
Book_A^.iU- 
Copyright N°_ \1 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



EXCELLENT 

Hiftory of the'Mcr-. 

chant of Venice* 

With the extreme cruelty of Sbyhct^ 

the lew towards the faide Merchant,in cue- 

tifP a mH found of blsfiejfh Jnd the obtaining 

olfortk^ bythechoyfeof 

thyes Qttfqts, 

Written by W. Shakespeare. 




Printed by f. TtykrtStlSoo. 






Facsimile of Title-Page, First Quarto (Roberts Quarto) 



THENEWHUDSON 
SHAKESPEARE 



THEMERCHANT 
QE VENICE 

INTRODUCTION^N) NOTES BY 

HENRYNORMAN 
HUDSON,LLD ^ 

EDITED AND REVISED BY 
EBENEZER CHARITON 
BLACK LLD- (GLASGOW) 
WITH THE COOPERATION OP 

ANDREW JACKS OK 
GEORGE IOTD-GMEERSD 



SCHOOL 
EDITION 



GINNAND COMPANY 



WB. 



LIBRA RY of CONGRESS* 
Two Cooles Received 
iAN 29 190f 

a Copyright Entry . 

JfXASS A XXcNfc 
COPY B. 






— i — 



es pe,* < i ana 



Entered at Stationers' Hall 



Copyright, 1879 
By HENRY N. HUDSON 



Copyright, 1906 
By GINN & COMPANY 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



66. I J 



3Efte gUfaengum jgregg 

GINN & COMPANY • PRO- 
PRIETORS • BOSTON • U.S.A. 



PREFACE 

The text of this edition of The Merchant of Venice is 
based upon a collation of the Quartos of 1600 and the 
seventeenth century Folios. Exclusive of changes in spell- 
ing, punctuation, and stage directions, only five emenda- 
tions by eighteenth century and nineteenth century editors 
have been incorporated into the text ; and these, with every 
variation from the First Folio, are indicated in the textual 
notes. The only omissions are such passages as are out of 
place in a school edition. 

The spelling and the punctuation of the text are mod- 
ern, except in the case of verb terminations in -ed, which, 
when the e is silent, are printed with the apostrophe in 
its place. This is the general usage in the First Folio. 
Modern spelling has to a certain extent been followed in 
the text variants; but the original spelling has been re- 
tained wherever its peculiarities have been the basis for 
important textual criticism and emendation. 

With regard to the general plan of this revision of 
Hudson's Shakespeare, Professor W. P. Trent, of Columbia 
University, has offered valuable suggestions and given 
important advice. 

August 14, 1906 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION 

Page 

I. Sources vii 

Subplots vii 

Main Plot x 

II. Date of Composition xi 

III. Editions xiii 

Quartos xiii 

Folios xv 

Rowe's Editions xvi 

IV. Dramatic Structure and Management of Time 

and Place xvi 

V. Versification and Diction xviii 

Blank Verse xviii 

Rhyme xix 

Prose xix 

VI. General Characteristics xx 

VII. Outline of the Story xxii 

VIII. Characters xxiv 

Antonio .- xxv 

Antonio's Friends xxvii 

Lorenzo and Jessica xxviii 

Launcelot Gob bo xxix 

Portia xxx 

Shylock xxxv 

IX. Conclusion xl 

Chronological Chart 

v 



vi CONTENTS 

THE TEXT 

Page 

Act I , 3 

Act II 32 

Act III 69 

Act IV 101 

Act V 124 

Index of "Words and Phrases 141 



INTRODUCTION 



Note. In citations from Shakespeare's plays and nondramatic 
poems the numbering has reference to the Globe edition, except in 
the case of this play, where the reference is to this edition. 



I. SOURCES 

The Merchant of Venice is woven out of story-threads as 
old and as varied as human nature. Four distinct sets of 
these story-threads, two primary — the Caskets and the 
Pound of Flesh (or the Bond) — and two secondary — Jes- 
sica's Elopement and the Rings — are in the web of the 
complete plot. They may be regarded as subplots, and in 
this summary of sources will naturally be considered first, 
and in the order in which they come into the play. 

The Subplots 

i . The Caskets. The device of the caskets, varied occa- 
sionally by the substitution of vats, or even of cakes and of 
pasties, for chests and coffers, is found in many languages 
and is probably of oriental origin. The underlying philoso- 
phy of choice as the foundation of moral activity may be 
read in the Genesis narrative of the fall of man and in the 
mythologies of all Indo-European peoples. In mediaeval 
literature the caskets-form of the story takes definite shape 
in the Greek romance, Barlaam and Josaphat, by Joannes 



viii THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 

Damascenus {circa 800) l ; and through a Latin translation 
in the Speculum Historiale of Vincent de Beauvais it made 
its way into The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine. 
In Boccaccio's Decame?'on and in Gower's Confessio Aman- 
tis are interesting variants. The popular collection of stories 
in Latin called the Gesta Romanorum, cqmpiled about the 
year 1300, contains the version most similar to that in The 
Merchant of Venice ; and it is significant that this version 
is found in the English translation of the Gesta printed by 
Wynkin de Worde — a translation so popular in Elizabethan 
England as to be issued six times between 1577 and 1601 
under the title Records of Ancyent Historyes. 

2. The Pound of Flesh (or the Bond). In the Mahdbhd- 
rata, in Aryan myth and folk-tale generally, and in Egyptian 
and oriental literatures, may be read the germ-ideas of the 
bond story. Like that of the caskets, it has its foundations 
deep in man's moral nature. In essence, it is the lex talionis 
in its relation to the Christian principle of mercy and for- 
giveness. It is significant that the first specific reference in 
English literature to the flesh- without-blood incident is in 
the Cursor Mundi {circa 1320), a Northumbrian religious 
poem which curiously anticipates later fourteenth century 
miracle-play cycles. In this poem a Jew guides the Empress 
Helena to the place where the true cross is concealed, arid 
reveals the secret to save himself from punishment for hav- 
ing tried to enforce his terrible flesh compact with a Chris- 
tian. The mediaeval conception of Christ's sacrifice, and 
the popular interpretation of the terrible Roman law of the 

1 Translations, transcripts, or summaries of all the more important 
source-versions will be found in the Appendix of Furness's A Ne%v 
Variorum Edition — The Merchant of Venice. 



INTRODUCTION ix 

Twelve Tables which gave a creditor full power over the 
person of a debtor, are responsible for the dozen and more 
versions of the bond story (with, or without, a Jew ; some- 
times with The Merchant of Venice positions of Jew and 
Christian reversed) which were current in Europe in short 
story collections — Gesta Romanorum, Dolopathos, etc. — 
between 1400 and 1600. In one version the compact turns 
upon the right to gouge out one of the creditor's eyes — a 
punishment inflicted oftener upon Jews than by them, and 
one that may be grimly suggested in The Merchant of 
Venice, II, v, 42. Important among these many versions is 
the ninety-fifth "declamation" in The Orator . . . Written in 
French by Alexander Silvayn and Englished by L. P., 1 Lon- 
don . . . 7396 : "Of a Jew who would for his debt have a 
pound of the flesh of a Christian." Shylock's speeches in 
the trial scene strongly resemble the arguments of the Jew 
in this 'declamation.' Important, too, is the version of 
the story in the ballad, Gemutus the Jew, preserved in the 
Pepysian Library, Magdalene College, Cambridge, and 
printed somewhat carelessly in Percy's Reliques : "A new 
Song, shewing the crueltie of Gernutus, a Jewe, who lend- 
ing to a merchant an hundred crownes, would have a pound 
of his fleshe, because he could not pay him at the time 
appointed. ..." There is uncertainty as to the date of 
this ballad, but the weight of evidence is in favor of its 
antedating Shakespeare's play. Of all the possible source- 
versions of the bond story, the closest in resemblance to The 
Merchant of Venice is in Ser Giovanni Fiorentino's 2 collec- 
tion of romances, II Pecorone, written, as we are quaintly 

1 That is, Lazarus Piot, a nom de guerre of Anthony Munday, 

2 Probably an assumed name. 



x THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 

told, three years after the death of Boccaccio. In IlPecorone 
is introduced a lady of ' Belmonte ' ; the usurer is a Jew of 
Mestre, near Venice ; and the flesh-without-the-blood argu- 
ment is used by a woman disguised as a lawyer. 

3. Jessica's Elopement. This story has been traced to 
the fourteenth novellino of Masuccio di Salerno, which tells 
how the daughter of a rich miser of Naples stole her father's 
jewels and eloped with her lover. But the theme is com- 
mon to the fiction, prose and verse, of many countries. 

4. The Rings. This episode is found in 77 Pec or one. 



The Main Plot 

That the ancient stories of the caskets and the pound of 
flesh were combined in a drama before Shakespeare wrote 
The Merchant of Venice, is clear from what Stephen Gosson 
says in The Schoole of Abuse, published in 1579. He makes 
distinct reference to a play, now lost, called The Jetu, 
"... representing the greedinesse of worldly chusers, and 
bloody mindes of Usurers. ..." Under the date August 
25, 1594, Henslowe in his Diary mentions as a new play 
the Venesyon comodey (The Venetian Comedy) which Fleay 
claims as a lost work of Dekker's, The Jew of Venice, upon 
which he asserts that Shakespeare's play was based. Sidney 
Lee suggests that the Venesyon comodey was Shakespeare's 
revision of some old play made when popular interest in 
things Jewish was at fever heat over the trial in February, 
1594, and the execution in the following June, of Queen 
Elizabeth's Jewish physician, Roderigo Lopez. It is inter- 
esting to note that the chief undoer of Lopez was Antonio 
Perez, usually called Don Antonio. "That a Christian 



INTRODUCTION xi 

named Antonio should be the cause of the ruin alike of the 
■greatest Jew in Elizabethan England and of the greatest 
Jew of the Elizabethan drama, is a curious confirmation of 
the theory that Lopez was the begetter of Shylock" — Lee. 
In the play, The Three Ladies of London, by R. W. (1584), 
a Jewish creditor, Gerontus — evidently the same name as 
that of the Jew in the ballad mentioned above — tries to 
recover a loan of three thousand, ducats for three months 
from a Christian debtor, Mercatore. 

The influence of Marlowe's The Jew of Malta makes itself 
felt in general inspiration rather than in plan and details of 
plot, though Abigail's attitude to her father, Barabas, and her 
leaving him through love of a Christian, strongly suggest the 
relations between Jessica, Shylock, and Lorenzo. 

II. DATE OF COMPOSITION 

The only thing certain about the date of composition of 
The Merchant of Venice is that it was written before 1598. 
In that year we have two independent references to it : 

(1) in the Palladis Tamia, Wits Treasury ; being the Sec- 
ond Part of Wits Commonwealth of Francis Meres ; and 

(2) in The Stationers' 1 Registers. It is sixth in the list of 
twelve Shakespeare plays, and last of the six comedies, men- 
tioned in the Palladis Tamia, that famous terminus ante 
quern in Shakespeare chronology, the largest bit of solid 
rock amid the shifting sands of conjecture as to date of 
composition. Under the date July 22, 1598, James Roberts 
(the name is spelled here and elsewhere, Robertes) had the 
play entered in The Stationers' Registers under the title " a 
booke of the Marchaunt of Venyce or otherwise called the 



xii THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 

Jewe of Venyce," with the significant proviso that " yt bee 
not prynted by the said James Robertes or anye other what- 
soeuer without lycence first had from the Right honourable 
the lord Chamberlen." At that time the theatrical company 
to which Shakespeare belonged bore the title of " The Lord 
Chamberlain's Servants," and the proviso indicates suspicion 
of Roberts, the probability that his copy was " stolen and 
surreptitious," * and a desire to keep the play out of print 
until the company gave official sanction through its patron. 
This sanction seems to have been granted within two years, 
for in 1600 two editions of the play were published. 

Attempts have been made to give an approximate date 
to the composition by identifying it with one or other of 
the plays discussed in the preceding section, notably the 
Venesyon comodey, but the theories advanced are only inter- 
esting guesses. A judicious application of the leading inter- 
nal tests would indicate that the date of composition was 
as near as possible to the terminus ante quem. 2 Every- 
where the play shows the easy freedom of conscious mastery, 
the characters being so entirely under the author's control, 
and subdued to his hand, that he seems to let them talk and 
act just as they have a mind to. The style throughout is so 

1 " . . . You were abus'd with diuerse stolne and surreptitious 
copies, maimed and deformed by the frauds and stealthes of iniuri- 
ous impostors" (Heminge and Condell's address "To the Great 
Variety of Readers," First Folio, 1623). 

2 But Conrad, in his Metrische Untersuchungen, Shakespeare 
Jahrbuch, XXXI, 326, bases a plea for 1595 upon an analysis of 
verse structure. On the other hand, Ward, in the new and revised 
edition (1899) of his History of English Dramatic Literature, tends 
away from the early date to which he was inclined when the first 
edition of his work was published. 



INTRODUCTION xin 

even and sustained, the word and the character are so fitted 
to each other, the laws of dramatic proportion are so well 
observed, and the work is so free from any jarring or falling 
out from the due course and order of art, as to justify the 
conclusion accepted by several recent editors that the play 
was written at such a stage of intellectual growth and fur- 
nishing as Shakespeare undoubtedly had reached by the 
beginning of the year 1598. 

III. EDITIONS 

Quartos 

Two Quarto editions of The Merchant of Venice were 
published in the year 1 600 : 

(1) A sixpenny Quarto of forty leaves, with the title-page 
which is shown in facsimile in the frontispiece of this volume. 

As this — sometimes called the Roberts Quarto — was 
evidently the first of the two 1600 Quartos to be entered on 
The Stationers' 1 Registers (see above), though its priority of 
publication is uncertain, J. P. Kemble (1798) called it the 
First Quarto ; and this nomenclature has been adopted by 
the editors of the Cambridge Shakespeare and by almost 
all the leading Shakespeare scholars and editors of recent 
years. In this edition it is designated Q x . 

(2) A Quarto of 38 leaves, with the title-page shown in 
facsimile on the following page. 

This — sometimes known as the Heyes 1 Quarto — is 
called by the Cambridge editors the Second Quarto, though 

1 In The Stationers' Registers, under the date " 28 Octobris (1600, 
42 Regine)," when this Quarto seems to have been entered, the 
name is given as " Thomas haies." 



The moffc excellent 

Hiftorie of the zSAderchant 
of Venice^. 

With the extreame jerueltieof Shylocfy the Iewe 

towards the fayd Merchant, in cutting a iuft pound 

of his flefh: andtheobtayningofPw*/* 

by the choyfc of three 

chdfc. 

As it hath beetle litters times Mel by the Lord 
Chmberhinehis Seramts* 

Written by William Shakefpeare. 




AT. LONDON, 
Printed by 1. %^ for Thomas Heyes, 

and are to be fold inPaulcs Church-yard, at the 
figneof the Greene Dragon. 
1600, 



INTRODUCTION XV 

Johnson and Capell, believing in its priority, named it the 
First Quarto. In this edition it is designated Q 2 . 

Each of these Quartos — the only editions of the play 
that are known to have appeared in Shakespeare's lifetime 
— seems to have been printed from a different transcript of 
what was probably the author's original copy, that of Q x 
being the work of a careful copyist, that of Q 2 of one more 
careless if not more illiterate. 

In 1637 Laurence Hayes (Ffeyes, Haies), son of the pub- 
lisher of Q 2 , published what is riow known as the Third Quarto 
(Q 3 ), having entered it on The Stationers' Registers eighteen 
years before (Regni Regis 17 8° Julii, 1619). Q 3 is in the 
main but a careless reprint of Q 2 , but in it appears "The 
Actors Names " — the first list of dramatis personam. 

In 1652 appeared the Fourth Quarto (Q 4 ), which seems 
but a reissue of Q 3 with a new title-page. " ... It is 
undoubtedly a fact worth remarking, — that just at the time 
of this reissue the Jews were beginning to ask for readmis- 
sion into England, and the consideration of their request to 
be seriously entertained." — Hales. 



Folios 

In the First Folio (1623), designated in this edition Fi, 
the text of The Merchant of Venice is very similar to that 
of Q 2 , but here for the first time is found the formal divi- 
sion into acts. The Second Folio, F 2 (1632), the Third 
Folio, F 3 (1663, 1664), and the Fourth Folio, F 4 (1685), 
show few real variants in the text of this play and none 
of great importance. 



xvi THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 



Rowe's Editions 

In 1709 Nicholas Rowe, poet laureate from 1715 to 1718, 
published what is the first critical and the first octavo edi- 
tion of Shakespeare and issued a second and enlarged 
edition five years later. Rowe, himself a practical play- 
wright, made the excellent division of acts into scenes 
which almost all later editors have accepted ; and he intro- 
duced the list of dramatis personam which has been made the 
basis for all later lists. 

IV. DRAMATIC STRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT 
OF TIME AND PLACE 

The essential elements of a drama are (1) the exposition 
or introduction, (2) the complication or rising action, (3) the 
climax or turning point, (4) the resolution or falling action, 
and (5) the catastrophe or conclusion. In a tragic drama 
the hero struggles with antagonizing forces and is defeated ; 
in comedy he triumphs. The Merchant of Ve?iice is a 
comedy in which Antonio triumphs over the difficulties and 
complications woven around him in the rising action. Here 
as in Shakespeare's other plays the organic parts of the 
action do not correspond exactly to the mechanical division 
into acts. In this play the exposition is contained in the 
first two scenes ; the complication begins with the conver- 
sation between Bassanio and Shylock regarding the loan, and 
continues until the climax is reached in the casket scene 
of the third act, at the close of which is read Antonio's let- 
ter to Bassanio announcing the desperate condition of his 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

affairs. The beginning of the resolution is usually in the 
closest union with the climax, and Portia's sending Bassanio 
to the relief of Antonio is incorporated with the casket scene. 
The resolution or falling action is complete with the close 
of the trial scene and the episode of the rings. This epi- 
sode, linking the tragic subaction to the comic main action, 
brings about the exquisite conclusion amid the music and 
the moonlight of Belmont. 

The Merchant of Venice is a romantic drama in which 
the classical unities of time and place are quietly set aside 
in favor of the supreme unity of life. In the action of the 
play a quarter of a year is made to pass, and, as we read or 
listen, it seems a matter of a few hours. The scene shifts 
from Venice to Belmont and from Belmont to Venice ; and 
such improbabilities as the stories of the bond and of the 
caskets are interwoven with Jessica's elopement and the 
episode of the rings into a symmetrical, fascinating, and 
convincing plot". Eccles 1 has one formal time analysis ; 
Halpin, another ; P. A. Daniel, a third. Christopher North 
(Professor John Wilson) published in Blackwood's Edin- 
burgh Magazine a theory of 'double time,' as used by 
Shakespeare : " Shakespeare counts off days and hours, as 
it were, by two clocks, on one of which the true Historic 
time is recorded, and on the other the Dramatic time, or a 
false show of time, whereby days, weeks, and months may 
be to the utmost contracted." But such ingenious theories 
and analyses are beside the mark when the difference be- 
tween a poet's point of view and a scientist's is recognized. 
Shakespeare's time, like Sir Walter Scott's, is independent 

1 See Furness's A New Variorum Edition — The Merchant of 
Venice, " The Duration of the Action," 332-341. 



xviii THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 

of chronometers and almanacs ; and in his treatment of 
localities it is but a fool's errand to go for help to the 
maps and charts of the formal geographer. 

V. VERSIFICATION AND DICTION 

Blank Verse 

The greater part of The Merchant of Venice is in blank 
verse 1 — the rhymeless, iambic five-stress verse (iambic 
pentameter) introduced into England from Italy by Henry 
Howard, Earl of Surrey, about 1540, and used by him in 
a translation of the second and fourth books of Vergil's 
sEneid. Nicholas Grimald {TottePs Miscellany, 1557) em- 
ployed the measure for the first time in English original 
poetry, and its roots began to strike deep into British soil 
and absorb substance. It is peculiarly significant that Sack- 
ville and Norton should have used it as -the measure of 
Gorboduc, the first English tragedy (performed by "the 
Gentlemen of the Inner Temple" on January 18, 15 61, and 
first printed in 1565). About the time when Shakespeare 
arrived in London the infinite possibilities of blank verse as 
a vehicle for dramatic poetry and passion were being shown 
by Kyd and above all by Marlowe. The blank verse of 
Shakespeare's earlier plays, like that of Surrey and Sack- 
ville, is for the most part restrained and monotonously reg- 
ular; in his later plays it breaks away from the formal 
verse limits and sweeps all before it in its freedom, power, 

1 The term ' blank verse ' is used for the first time in Nash's 
Preface to Greene's Menaphon (1589), where we find the expression : 
" the swelling bumbast of bragging blanke verse." 



INTRODUCTION xix 

and organic continuity. In the blank verse of The Mer- 
chant of Venice we have the transition from the earlier style 
to the later, and trochees, spondees, feminine endings, run-on 
lines, incomplete lines, Alexandrines, etc., vary the r hythm 
and give flexibility and vigor, though end-stopped lines 
abound, many of them (for instance, the first line of the 
play) examples of normal five-stress iambic pentameter. 

Rhyme 

When compared with Shakespeare's earlier plays, The 
Merchant of Venice shows a marked decrease in the use of 
rhyme in the dialogue. With the ever-increasing freedom 
from metrical restraint which distinguishes Shakespeare's 
development as a writer of verse, there is less and less 
employment of rhymed couplets, and in this play, as in the 
later plays, these couplets are for the most part rhyme-tags 
at the close of scenes. 

The scrolls within the caskets are in four-stress trochaic 
verse catalectic, varied by normal four-stress iambic lines. 

"Tell me where is fancy bred" is the only song in the 
play, but, woven of trochaic and iambic rhyming lines, it is 
one of the daintiest in the precious volume of Shakespeare's 
lyrics that dally "with the innocence of love like the old 
age." 

Prose 

In the development of the English drama the use of 
prose as a vehicle of expression entitled to equal rights with 
verse, was due to Lyly. He was the first to use prose with 
power and distinction in original plays, and did memorable 



XX THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 

service in preparing the way for Shakespeare's achievement 
as a master of humorous prose in high comedy. In Shake- 
speare's prose, as has been pointed out by Delius {DieProsa in 
Shake c peares Dramen, Shakespeare Jahrbuch, V, 227-273) 
three varieties may be distinguished : (1) The speech of the 
comic characters, clowns, and their fellows, which in phrase- 
ology, dialect, and construction is the speech of the com- 
mon people. Such is what we have in the talk of Launcelot 
and Old Gobbo. (2) The essentially euphuistic prose, fea- 
tures of which are at times introduced in Shakespeare's 
earlier plays in order to ridicule it, but occur in his later 
dramas without any such purpose and in full seriousness 
where information is to be given as to the nature of a situa- 
tion, or where a specially solemn and ceremonious tone is 
intended. (3) The humorous prose spoken as a rule, though 
not exclusively, by persons of superior rank or importance — 
the prose of high comedy, vivacious, sparkling, and flashing 
with repartee. Examples of this are the conversations be- 
tween Portia and Nerissa in this play and the wit-combats 
in Much Ado About Nothing. 



VI. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 

While The Merchant of Venice shows no novelty either of 
story or of plot, Shakespeare here as elsewhere making use 
of material common to European and oriental literature 
and of universal appeal, it is one of the most original pro- 
ductions of the human mind by virtue of conception and 
development of character, poetical texture and grain, sap 
and flavor of wit and humor, and all that touches the real 
life and virtue of workmanship. The praise of the play is 



INTRODUCTION xxi 

in the mouth of all who have vision to discern. From the 
reopening of the theaters at the Restoration till the present 
day, it has kept its place on the stage ; it is among the first 
of Shakespeare's works to be read, and the last to be forgot- 
ten ; its interest is as durable in the closet as on the boards. 
Critics have too often entertained themselves with specu- 
lations as to the specific moral purpose in this play or that. 
A work of art, to be really deserving the name, must needs 
be moral, because it must be proportionable and true to 
nature, thus attuning our inward forces to the voice of 
external order and law; otherwise it is at strife with the 
compact of things, a piece of dissonance, a jarring, unbal- 
anced, crazy thing, that will die of its own internal disorder. 
If, then, a work be morally bad, this proves the author more 
a bungler than anything else. And if any one admire it or 
take pleasure in it, he does so, not from reason, but from 
something within him of which his reason, in so far as he 
has any, necessarily disapproves : so that he is rather to be 
laughed at as a dunce than preached to as a sinner. / 

As to the moral temper of The Merchant of Venice /critics 
have differed widely, some regarding the play as teaching 
the most comprehensive humanity, others as caressing the 
narrowest bigotries of the Elizabethan age. This difference 
may be fairly taken as an argument for Shakespeare's can- 
dor and evenhandedness. A special pleader is not apt^to 
leave the hearers in doubt on which side of the question he 
stands. In this play, as in others, the poet ordered' things 
mainly with a view to dramatic effect, though to such effect 
in the largest and noblest sense. And the highest praise 
compatible with the nature of the work is justly his, inas- 
j^ch as he did not allow himself to be swayed either way 



xxil THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 

from the right measures and proportions of art. For art is, 
from its very nature, obliged to be " without respect of per- 
sons." Impartiality is its essential law, the constituent of 
its being. And of Shakespeare it could least of all be said, — 

he narrow'd his mind, 
And to party gave up what was meant for mankind. 

He represented men as he had seen them. And he could 
neither repeal nor ignore the old law of human nature, in 
virtue of which the wisest and kindest men are more or less 
warped by social customs and prejudices, so that they come 
to do, and even to make a merit of doing, some things that 
are very unwise and unkind ; while the wrongs and insults 
which they are thus led to practice have the effect of goad- 
ing the sufferers into savage malignity and re¥enge. Had 
he so clothed the latter with gentle and amiable qualities as 
to enlist the feelings of all in their behalf Ae would have 
given a false view of human nature, and his work would 
have lost much of its instructiveness on the score of prac- 
tical morality. For good morals can never be reached 
by departures from truth — a rule that may be profitably 
remembered by all who are moved to act as advocates and 
special pleaders in what they think a good cause. 



VII. OUTLINE OF THE STORY 

Antonio, the Merchant, has a strange mood of sadness 
upon him, and three of his friends are bending their wits to 
play it off. Among them, and dearer to him than the others, 
is one Bassanio, a gentleman who, young and generous, b ai 
lavished his fortune. Bassanio's heart is turning towa-fi s 



INTRODUCTION xxiii 

Portia, a wealthy heiress who, highly famed for gifts and 
virtues, resides not many miles off; and from whose eyes 
he has received "fair speechless messages." But he wants 
"the means to hold a rival place" among her princely 
suitors. Antonio freely and gladly pledges his wealth and 
credit to Bassanio's service, but as his funds are all embarked 
in ventures at sea, he tries his credit with a rich Jew, whose 
person he has often insulted, and whose greed his Christian 
liberality has often thwarted. Shylock, the Jew, feigning a 
merry humor, consents to lend the sum, provided Antonio 
sign a bond authorizing him, in case of forfeiture, to cut a 
pound of flesh from whatever part of his body he may 
choose. Antonio readily agrees to this, and so equips his 
friend for the loving enterprise. 

Bassanio prosecutes his suit to Portia with success. But, 
while yet in his first transports of joy, he learns that Antonio's 
ventures at sea have all miscarried, and that the Jew, with 
malignant earnestness, claims the forfeiture. Leaving his 
bride the moment he has sworn the sweet oath, he hastens 
away, resolved to save his friend's life at the expense, if 
need be, of his own. Thereupon Portia gets instructions 
from the most learned lawyer in those parts, and, habiting 
herself as a doctor of laws, repairs to the trial. To divert 
the Jew from his purpose, she taxes her wisdom and per- 
suasion to the utmost, but in vain. Scorning the spirit of 
justice, and deaf to the voice of mercy, both of which speak 
with eloquence from Portia's lips, rejecting thrice the 
amount of the bond, and standing immovable on the letter 
of the law, Shylock pushes his revenge to the very point of 
making the fatal incision, when she turns the letter of the 
law against him, strips him of penalty, principal, and all, and 



xxiv THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 

subjects even his life to the mercy of the Duke. As the 
condition of his life, he is required to sign a deed securing 
all his wealth to his daughter, who, loaded with his ducats 
and jewels, has lately eloped with another of Antonio's 
friends, and is staying at Portia's mansion during her 
absence. The play winds up with the hastening of all, 
except the Jew, to Portia's home. When all have met, 
Portia announces to Antonio the safe return of his ships 
supposed to be lost, and surprises the fugitive lovers with 
the news of their good fortune. 

VIII. THE CHARACTERS 

In respect of characterization The Merchant of Venice is 
exceedingly rich, and this too both in quantity and quality. 
vThe persons naturally fall into three several groups, with 
each its several plot and action ; but the three are skillfully 
complotted, each standing out clear and distinct in its 
place, yet so drawing in with the others, that everything 
helps on everything else, there being neither any confusion 
nor any appearance of care to avoid it. Of these three 
groups, Antonio, Shylock, and Portia are respectively the 
centers. The part of Lorenzo and Jessica, though strictly 
an episode, seems to grow forth as an element of the origi- 
nal germ, a sort of inherent superfluity, and as such essen- 
tial to the well-being of the piece. It may be described as 
a fine romantic undertone accompaniment to the other parts, 
itself in perfect harmony with them, and perfecting their 
harmony with each other. 

In the first entry on The Stationers' Registers (see above, 
" Date of Composition ") the play is described as " a booke of 



INTRODUCTION xxv 

the Marchaunt of Venyce or otherwise called the Jewe of 
Venyce." This would seem to infer that the author was 
then in some doubt whether to name it from Antonio or 
Shylock. As an individual, Shylock is altogether the char- 
acter of the play, and exhibits more of mastership than any 
of the others; so that, viewing the persons severally, we 
should say the piece ought to be named from him. But we 
have not far to seek for good reasons why it should be named 
as it is. For if the Jew is the more important individually, 
the Merchant is so dramatically. Antonio is the center and 
mainspring of the action ; without him, Shylock, however 
great in himself, had no business there. And the laws of 
dramatic combination, not any accident of individual prom- 
inence, are clearly what ought to govern in the naming of 
the play. 

Antonio 

Not indeed that the Merchant is a small matter in him- 
self ; far from it ; he is a highly interesting and attractive 
personage, with timber enough in him for a good dramatic 
hero apart from the Jew. Something of a peculiar charm 
attaches to him from the state of mind in which we first 
see him. A dim, mysterious presage of evil weighs down 
his spirits, as though he felt afar off the coming on of some 
great calamity. This unwonted dejection, sweetened as it 
is with his habitual kindness and good nature, has the effect 
of showing how dearly he is held by such whose friendship 
is the fairest earthly purchase of virtue. It is significant 
that upon tempers like his even the smiles of fortune often 
have a strangely saddening effect. For such a man, even 
because he is good, is apt to be haunted with a sense of 



xxvi THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 

having more than he deserves ; and this may not unnatu- 
rally inspire him with an indefinable dread of some reverse 
which shall square up the account of his present blessings. 
Thus his very happiness works by subtle methods to charge 
his heart with certain dark forebodings. Such presentiments 
are in the right line of nature : 

Oft, startled and made wise 
By their low-breathed interpretings, 
The simply-meek foretaste the springs 

Of bitter contraries. 

But the sorrow that has such noble comforters as Antonio's 
can hardly be ungrateful to us. Our nature is honored in 
the feelings that spring up on both sides. 

Wealth indeed seldom dispenses such warnings save to 
its most virtuous possessors. And such is Antonio. A kind- 
hearted and sweet-mannered man; of a large and liberal 
spirit ; affable, generous, and magnificent in his dispositions ; 
patient of trial, indulgent to weakness, free where he loves, 
and frank where he hates ; in prosperity modest, in adver- 
sity cheerful ; craving wealth for the uses of virtue, and as 
the sinews of friendship ; — his character is one which we 
never weary of contemplating. The only blemish we per- 
ceive in him is his treatment of Shylock : in this, though 
more the fault of the times than of the man, we cannot help 
siding against him. We need not ask a clearer instance of 
poetical justice than this, and even this we blame rather as a 
wrong done to himself than to Shylock ; as the Jew, despite 
his provocations, avowedly grounds his hate mainly on those 
very things which make the strongest title to a good man's 
love.C For Shylock's revenge fastens not so much on the 
man's abuse of him as on his kindness to others.^ 



INTRODUCTION xxvii 

Antonio's Friends 

The friendship between the Merchant and his compan- 
ions is such a picture as Shakespeare evidently delighted to 
draw. And so fair a sentiment is not apt to inhabit ignoble 
breasts. Bassanio, Gratiano, and Salarino give a pleasing 
variety to the scenes where they move. Bassanio, though 
something too lavish of purse, is a model of a gentleman, 
in whose character and behavior all is order and propriety, 
with whom good manners are the proper outside and visi- 
bility of a fair mind — the natural foliage and drapery of 
inward refinement and delicacy and rectitude. Well-bred, 
he has that in him which, even had his breeding been ill, 
would have raised him above it and made him a gentleman. 

Gratiano and Salarino are as clever, sprightly, and voluble 
persons as any one need desire to be with ; the chief differ- 
ence between them being, that the former lets his tongue 
run on from good impulses, while the latter makes it do so 
for good ends. If not so wise as Bassanio, they are more 
witty; and as much surpass him in strength, as they fall 
short of him in beauty of character. Gratiano, while much 
more prone than Salarino to flood us with his talk, also 
shows less subjection of the individual to the common forms 
of social decorum : so that, if he behaves not quite so well 
as the others, he gives livelier proof that what good behavior 
he has is his own — a growth from within, not a piece of 
imitation. And we are rather agreeably surprised, that one 
so talkative and rattle-tongued should carry so much weight 
of meaning ; he sometimes appears less sensible than he is, 
because of his galloping volubility. But he has no wish to 
be " reputed wise for saying nothing " ; and he makes a 



xxviii THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 

merit of talking nonsense when, as is sometimes the case, 
nonsense is the best sort of sense : for, like a prime good 
fellow, as he is, he would rather incur the charge of folly 
than not, provided he can thereby add to the health and 
entertainment of his friends. 



Lorenzo and Jessica 

Lorenzo and Jessica, the runaway lovers, are in such a 
lyrical state of mind that a clear view of their characters is 
somewhat interfered with. Both are indeed overflowing 
with sweetness and beauty, but more, perhaps, as the result 
of their relations to each other than of inherent qualities. 
Jessica's elopement, in itself and its circumstances, puts us 
to the alternative that either she is a bad child or Shylock 
a bad father. And while there is enough to persuade us of 
the latter, some share of the reproach falls to her. For 
if a young woman have so bad a home as to justify her 
in thus deserting and robbing it, the atmosphere of the 
place can hardly fail to leave some traces in her temper 
and character. 

Lorenzo stands fair in our regard, negatively, because 
he does nothing unhandsome ; positively, because he has 
such good men for his friends. And it is rather curious that 
what is thus done for him, should be done for Jessica by 
such a person as Launcelot Gobbo. For she and the clown 
are made to reflect each other's choicer qualities. We think 
the better of her for having kindled something of poetry in 
such a clod, and of him for being raised above himself by 
such an object. Her conduct is further justified to our 
feelings by the odd testimony he furnishes of her father's 



INTRODUCTION xxix 

badness ; which testimony, though not of much weight in 
itself, goes far to confirm that of others. We see that the 
Jew is much the same at home as in the Rialto ; that, let 
him be where he will, it is his nature to snarl and bite. 



Launcelot Gobbo 

Such, from one point of view, is the dramatic propriety 
of this Launcelot. His part gives a fuller view both of Jes- 
sica and of her father. But, in addition to this function, 
he has also a value in himself. His own personal rights 
enter into the purpose of his introduction, and he carries in 
himself a part of the reason why he is so, and not otherwise ; 
for Shakespeare seldom if ever brings in a person merely 
for the sake of others. A mixture of conceit and drollery, 
and hugely wrapped up in self, he is by no means a com- 
monplace buffoon, but stands firm in his sufficiency of 
original stock. His elaborate nonsense, his grasping at a 
pun without catching it, yet feeling just as grand as if he 
did, is both ludicrous and natural. The poverty of his wit is 
enriched by his complacency in dealing it out. His part 
indeed amply pays its way, in showing how much of mirth 
may be caused by feebleness in a great attempt at a small 
matter. In him the mother-element of the whole piece runs 
out into broad humor and travesty ; his reasons for breaking 
with his master the Jew being, as it were, a variation in 
drollery upon the main theme of the play. He exhibits 
under a comic form the general aspect of surrounding 
humanity ; while at the same time his character is an inte- 
gral part of that varied structure of human life which it 
belongs to the Drama to represent. 



xxx THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 



Portia 

In Portia Shakespeare seems to have aimed at a perfect 
scheme of an amiable, intelligent, and accomplished woman. 
The result is a fine specimen of beautiful nature enhanced 
by beautiful art. Eminently practical in her tastes and turn 
of mind, full of native, home-bred sense and virtue, Portia 
unites therewith something of the ripeness and dignity of a 
sage, a mellow eloquence, and a large, noble discourse ; the 
whole being tempered with the best grace and sensibility of 
womanhood. As intelligent as the strongest, she is at the 
same time as feminine as the weakest of her sex : she talks 
like a poet and a philosopher, and she talks, for all the 
world, just like a woman ! She is as full of pleasantry, too, 
and as merry " within the limit of becoming mirth," as she 
is womanly and wise ; and her arch sportiveness always has 
a special flavor as the free outcome of perfect moral health. 
Nothing indeed can be more fitting and well placed than 
her demeanor, now bracing her speech with grave maxims 
of practical wisdom, now unbending her mind in sallies of 
wit, or of innocent, roguish banter. The sportive element 
of her composition has its happiest showing in her dialogue 
with Nerissa about the "parcel of wooers," and in her 
humorous description of the part she imagines herself 
playing in her purposed disguise. The latter is especially 
delightful from its harmonious contrast with the solid 
thoughtfulness which, after all, forms the staple and frame- 
work of her character. How charmingly it sets off the 
divine rapture of eloquence with which she discourses to 
the Jew of mercy ! — 



INTRODUCTION xxxi 

I '11 hold thee any wager, 
When we are both accoutred like young men, 
I '11 prove the prettier fellow of the two, 
And wear my dagger with the braver grace ; 
And speak between the change of man and boy 
With a reed voice ; and turn two mincing steps 
Into a manly stride ; and speak of frays, 
Like a fine-bragging youth ; and tell quaint lies, 
How honourable ladies sought my love, 
Which I denying, they fell sick and died ; 
I could not do withal : then I '11 repent, 
And wish, for all that, that I had not kill'd them. 
And twenty of these puny lies I '11 tell ; 
Then men shall swear I have discontinued school 
Above a twelvemonth. I have within my mind 
A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks, 
Which I will practise. [Ill, iv, 62-78.] 

Partly from condition, partly from culture, Portia has 
grown to live more in the understanding than in the affec- 
tions ; for which cause she is somewhat self-conscious, but 
her character is hardly the less lovely on that account ; she 
talks considerably of herself indeed, but always so becom- 
ingly that we hardly wish her to choose any other subject, 
for we are pleasantly surprised that one so well aware of 
her gifts should still bear them so meekly. Mrs. Jameson, 
with Portia in her eye, intimates that Shakespeare is about 
the only artist, except nature, who can make women wise 
without turning them into men. And it is well worth the 
noting that, honorable as the issue of her course at the 
trial would be to a man, Portia shows no unwomanly crav- 
ing to be in the scene of her triumph : as she goes there 
prompted by the feelings and duties of a wife, and for the 
saving of her husband's honor and peace of mind, — being 



xxxil THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 

resolved that " never shall he lie by Portia's side with an 
unquiet soul " ; so she gladly leaves when these causes no 
longer bear in that direction. Then, too, exquisitely culti- 
vated as she is, humanity has not been so refined out of her 
that in such a service she cannot stoop from her elevation, 
and hazard a brief departure from the sanctuary of her sex. 
As Portia is to act for once the part of a man, it would 
seem hardly possible for her to go through the undertaking 
without more of self-confidence than were becoming in a 
woman; and the student may find plenty of matter for 
thought in the poet's so managing as to prevent such an 
impression. For there is nothing like ostentation or con- 
ceit of intellect in Portia. Though knowing enough for any 
station, still it never once enters her head that she is too 
wise for the station which Providence or the settled order 
of society has assigned her. She would therefore neither 
hide her light under a bushel that others may not see by it, 
nor perch it aloft in public that others may see it ; but would 
simply set it on a candlestick that it may give light to all 
in her house. With her noble intellect she has gathered in 
the sweets of poetry and the solidities of philosophy, all for 
use, nothing for show; and has fairly domesticated them, 
has naturalized them in her sphere, and tamed them to her 
fireside, so that they seem as much at home there as if they 
had been made for no other place. And to all this mental 
enrichment she adds the skill 

So well to know 
Her own, that what she wills to do or say 
Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best. 

Portia's consciousness of power does indeed render her 
cool, collected, and firm, but never a whit unfeminine : her 



INTRODUCTION xxxiii 

smooth command both of herself and of the matter she goes 
about rather heightens our sense of her modesty than other- 
wise : so that the impression we take from her is, that these 
high mental prerogatives are of no sex ; that they properly 
belong to the common freehold of woman and man. Some 
of her speeches, especially at the trial, are evidently pre- 
meditated ; for, as any good lawyer would do, she of course 
prepares herself in the case beforehand ; but I should like 
to see the masculine lawyer that could premeditate anything 
equal to them. 

It is to be noted withal that she goes about her work 
without the least misgiving as to the result ; having made 
herself so thoroughly familiar with both the facts and the 
law of the case as to feel perfectly sure on that point. 
Hence the charming ease and serenity with which she 
moves amid the excitements of the trial. No trepidations 
of anxiety come in to disturb the preconcerted order and 
method of her course. Her solemn appeals to the Jew are 
made in the earnest hope of inducing him to accept a full 
and liberal discharge of the debt. When she says to him, 
"there's thrice thy money offer'd thee," it is because she 
really feels that both the justice of the cause and the honor 
of her husband would be better served by such a payment 
than by the more brilliant triumph which awaits her in case 
the Jew should spurn her offer. 

Thus her management of the trial throughout is a piece 
of consummate art ; though of art in such a sense as pre- 
supposes perfect integrity of soul. Hence, notwithstanding 
her methodical forecast and preparation, she is as eloquent 
as an angel, and her eloquence, as by an instinctive tact, 
knows its time perfectly. One of her strains in this kind, 



xxxiv THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 

her appeal to the Jew on the score of mercy, has been so 
often quoted, that it would long since have grown stale, if it 
were possible by any means to crush the freshness of unwith- 
ering youth out of it. Her style in that speech is in perfect 
keeping with her habitual modes of thought and discourse ; 
even in her most spontaneous expressions we have a reflex 
of the same intellectual physiognomy. For the mental apti- 
tude which she displays in the trial seems to have been the 
germinal idea out of which her whole part was consistently 
evolved ; as Shakespeare's method often was, apparently, 
first to settle what his persons were to do, and then to con- 
ceive and work out their characters accordingly. 

How nicely Shakespeare discriminates things that really 
differ, so as to present in all cases the soul of womanhood 
without a particle of effeminacy ! How perfectly he recon- 
ciles things that seem most diverse, pouring into his women 
all the intellectual forces of the other sex, without in the 
least impairing or obscuring their womanliness ! This is 
not more rare in poetry than it is characteristic of Shake- 
speare's workmanship. Thus Portia is as much superior to 
her husband in intellect, in learning, and accomplishment, as 
she is in wealth ; but she is none the less womanly for all 
that. Nor does she ever on that account take the least 
thought of inverting the relation between them. Her mental 
superiority breeds no kind of social displacement, nor any 
desire of it. While she is acting the lawyer in disguise, her 
speech and bearing seem to those about her in the noblest 
style of manliness. In her judgelike gravity and dignity of 
deportment, in the extent and accuracy of her legal knowl- 
edge, in the depth and appropriateness of her moral reflec- 
tions, in the luminous order and coherence and transparency 



INTRODUCTION xxxv 

of her thoughts, she suggests the worthiest of the great chief 
justices of history. To us who are in the secret of her sex, 
all the proprieties, all the inward harmonies, of her character 
are preserved ; and the essential grace of womanhood irra- 
diates and consecrates the dress in which she is disguised. 
Portia's strength and substantial dignity of character are 
not impaired by the romance which overflows her nature — 
this it is that glorifies her, and breathes enchantment about 
her ; it adds that precious seeing to the eye which conducts 
her to such winning beauty and sweetness of deportment, 
and makes her the " rich-souled creature" that Schlegel 
describes her to be. In her case we have a remarkable 
example of how Shakespeare makes the several parts and 
persons of a drama cohere not only with one another but 
with the general circumstances wherein they occur. In 
Portia's character the splendor of Italian skies and scenery 
and art is reproduced ; their spirit lives in her imagination 
and suffuses all she does and says. 

Shylock 

If Portia is the beauty of this play, Shylock is its strength. 
In the delineation of the Jew Shakespeare had to fill with 
individual life and peculiarity the broad, strong outlines of 
national character in its most revolting form. Shylock is a 
true representative of his nation ; wherein we have a pride 
which for ages never ceased to provoke hostility, but which 
no hostility could ever subdue, a thrift which still invited 
rapacity, but which no rapacity could ever exhaust, and a 
weakness which, while it exposed the subjects to wrong, 
only deepened their hate, because it kept them without the 



xxxvi THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 

means or the hope of redress. Thus Shylock is a type of 
national sufferings, national sympathies, national antipathies. 
Himself an object of bitter insult and scorn to those about 
him, surrounded by enemies whom he is at once too proud 
to conciliate and too weak to oppose, he can have no life 
among them but money, no hold on them but interest, no 
feeling toward them but hate, no indemnity out of them 
but revenge. What wonder that the elements of national 
greatness became congealed and petrified into malignity? 
As avarice was the passion in which he mainly lived, the 
Christian virtues that thwarted this naturally seemed to 
him the greatest of wrongs. 

With these strong national traits are interwoven personal 
traits equally strong. Thoroughly and intensely Jewish, he 
is not more a Jew than he is Shylock. In his hard, icy 
intellectuality, and his dry, mummylike tenacity of purpose, 
with a dash now and then of biting sarcastic humor, we see 
the remains of a great and noble nature, out of which all 
the genial sap of humanity has been pressed by accumulated 
injuries. With as much elasticity of mind as stiffness of 
neck, every step he takes but the last is as firm as the earth 
he treads upon. Nothing can daunt, nothing disconcert 
him; remonstrance cannot move, ridicule cannot touch, 
obloquy cannot exasperate him ; when he has not provoked 
them, he has been forced to bear them ; and now that he 
does provoke them, he is hardened against them. He may 
be broken ; he cannot be bent. 

Shylock is great in every scene where he appears, yet 
each later scene exhibits him in a new element or aspect 
of greatness. As soon as the dramatist has set forth one 
side or phase of his character, he forthwith dismisses that 



INTRODUCTION xxxvii 

and proceeds to another. For example, the Jew's cold and 
penetrating sagacity, as also his malignant and remorseless 
guile, are effectively shown in the scene with Antonio and 
Bassanio, where he is first solicited for the loan. And the 
strength and vehemence of passion, which underlies these 
qualities, is still better displayed, if possible, in the scene 
with Antonio's two friends, Salanio and Salarino, where 
Shylock first avows his purpose of exacting the forfeit- 
ure. One passage of this scene has a peculiarly idio- 
matic strain of eloquence, steeped in a mixture of gall and 
pathos : 

He hath disgrac'd me, and hinder'd me half a million ; laugh'd 
at my losses, mock'd at my gains, scorn'd my nation, thwarted my 
bargains, cool'd my friends, heated mine enemies; and what's his 
reason ? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes ? hath not a Jew hands, 
organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions ? fed with the same 
food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, 
heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same winter 
and summer, as a Christian is ? If you prick us, do we not bleed ? 
if you tickle us, do we not laugh ? if you poison us, do we not die ? 
and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge ? if we are like you in the 
rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what 
is his humility ? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should 
his sufferance be by Christian example ? Why, revenge. The villainy 
you teach me, I will execute ; and it shall go hard but I will better 
the instruction. [Ill, i, 47-63.] 

National and individual traits in Shylock are so attem- 
pered and fused together that we cannot distinguish their 
respective influence. Even his avarice has a smack of 
patriotism. Money is the only defense of his brethren as 
well as of himself, and he craves it for their sake as well as 
his own ; he feels indeed that wrongs are offered to them 



xxxvm THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 

in him, and to him in them. Antonio has scorned his reli- 
gion, balked him of usurious gains, insulted his person : 
therefore he hates him as a Christian, himself a Jew ; hates 
him as a lender of money gratis, himself a griping usurer; 
hates him as Antonio, himself Shylock. And who but a 
Christian, one of Antonio's faith and fellowship, has stolen 
away his daughter's heart, and drawn her into revolt, loaded 
with his ducats and his precious, precious jewels? 

His religion, his patriotism, his avarice, his affection, all 
unite to stimulate his enmity; and his personal hate thus 
reenforced overcomes for once his greed, and he grows 
generous in the prosecution of his aim. The only reason he 
will vouchsafe for taking the pound of flesh is, "if it will 
feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge"; a reason all 
the more satisfactory to him, in that those to whom he gives 
it can neither allow it nor refute it ; and until they can rail 
the seal from off his bond, all their railings are but a fore- 
taste of the revenge he seeks. In his eagerness to taste 
that morsel, sweeter to him than all the luxuries of Italy, his 
recent afflictions, the loss of his daughter, his ducats, his 
jewels, and even the precious ring given him by his departed 
wife, all fade from his mind. In his inexorable and imper- 
turbable hardness at the trial there is something that makes 
the blood to tingle. It is the sublimity of malice. We feel 
that the yearnings of revenge have silenced all other cares 
and all other thoughts. In his rapture of hate the man has 
grown superhuman, and his eyes seem all aglow with preter- 
natural malignity. Fearful, however, as is his passion, he 
comes not off without moving our pity. In the very act 
whereby he thinks to avenge his own and his brethren's 
wrongs, the national curse overtakes him. In standing up 



INTRODUCTION xxxix 

for the letter of the law against all the pleadings of mercy, 
he has strengthened his enemies' hands, and sharpened 
their weapons, against himself ; and the terrible Jew sinks 
at last into the poor, pitiable, heartbroken Shylock. 

Early in the play, when Shylock is bid forth to Bassanio's 
supper, and Launcelot urges him to go, because " my young 
master doth expect your reproach," Shylock replies, "So 
do I his." Of course he expects the reproach through the 
bankruptcy of Antonio. This would seem to infer that Shy- 
lock has some hand in getting up the reports of Antonio's 
"losses at sea," some of which turn out false in the end. 
Further than this, the poet leaves us in the dark as to how 
those reports grew into being and gained belief. Did he 
mean to have it understood that the Jew exercised his 
cunning and malice in plotting and preparing them? It 
appears that Shylock knew they were coming before they 
came. The natural impression from the play is that he 
lent the ducats and took the bond, on a mere chance of 
coming at his wish. But he would hardly grasp so eagerly 
at a bare possibility of revenge, without using means to turn 
it into something more. This would mark him with much 
deeper lines of guilt. Why, then, did not Shakespeare bring 
the matter forward more prominently? Perhaps it was 
because the doing so would have made Shylock appear too 
deep a criminal for the degree of interest which his part 
was meant to carry in the play. In other words, the health 
of the drama as a work of comic art required his criminality 
to be kept in the background. He comes very near over- 
shadowing the other characters too much, as it is. And 
Shylock's character is essentially tragic ; there is none of 
the proper timber of comedy in him. 



xl THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 

IX. CONCLUSION 

The Merchant of Venice is justly distinguished among 
Shakespeare's dramas, not only for the general felicity of 
the language, but also for the beauty of particular scenes 
and passages. For descriptive power, the opening scene of 
Antonio and his friends is not easily rivaled, and can hardly 
fail to live in the memory of any one having an eye for 
such things. Equally fine in its way is the scene of Tubal 
and Shylock, where the latter is so torn with the struggle of 
conflicting passions ; his heart now sinking with grief at the 
account of his fugitive daughter's expenses, now leaping 
with malignant joy at the report of Antonio's losses. The 
trial scene, with its tugging vicissitudes of passion, and its 
hush of terrible expectation — now ringing with the Jew's 
sharp, spiteful snaps of malice, now made musical with 
Portia's strains of eloquence, now holy with Antonio's tender 
breathings of friendship, and dashed, from time to time, with 
Gratiano's fierce jets of wrath, and fiercer jets of mirth — 
is hardly surpassed in tragic power anywhere; and as it 
forms the catastrophe proper, so it concentrates the inter- 
est of the whole play. Scarcely inferior in its kind is the 
night scene of Lorenzo and Jessica, bathed as it is in love, 
moonlight, " touches of sweet harmony," and soul-lifting dis- 
course, followed by the grave moral reflections of Portia, as 
she approaches her home, and sees its lights and hears its 
music. The bringing in of this passage of ravishing lyrical 
sweetness, so replete with the most soothing and tranquil- 
izing effect, close upon the intense dramatic excitement of 
the trial scene, is such a transition as we shall hardly meet 
with but in Shakespeare, and shows his mastery of the mind's 



INTRODUCTION xli 

capacity of delight. The affair of the rings, with the harm- 
less perplexities growing out of it, is a well-managed device 
for letting the mind down from the tragic height whereon it 
lately stood to the merry conclusion which the play requires. 
Critics indeed may easily quarrel with this sportive after- 
piece ; but it stands approved by the tribunal to which crit- 
icism itself must bow — the spontaneous feelings of such as 
are willing to be made cheerful and healthy, without beat- 
ing their brains about the how and wherefore. 

What a wide diversity of materials this play reconciles 
and combines ! One can hardly realize how many things 
are here brought together, they are ordered in such perfect 
concert and harmony. The greatness of the work is thus 
hidden in its fine proportions. In many of Shakespeare's 
dramas we are surprised at the great variety of character : 
here, besides this, we have a remarkable variety of plot. 
And, admirable as may be the skill displayed in the charac- 
ters individually considered, the interweaving of so many 
several plots, without the least confusion or embarrassment, 
evinces a still higher mastership. For, many and various 
as are the forms and aspects of life here shown, they all 
emphatically live together, as if they all had but one vital 
circulation. 



ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES 

Qi = First Quarto, 1600. 
Q 2 = Second Quarto, 1600. 
Q3 = Third Quarto, 1637. 
Q4 = Fourth Quarto, 1652. 
Qq = all the Quartos from 1600 to 1652. 
Fi = First Folio, 1623. 
F 2 = Second Folio, 1632. 
F 3 = Third Folio, 1664. 
F 4 = Fourth Folio, 1685. 
Ff = all the seventeenth century Folios. 
Rowe = Rowe's editions, 1709, 17 14. 
Pope = Pope's editions, 1723, 1728. 
Johnson = Johnson's edition, 1765. 

Camb = Cambridge edition (W. A. Wright), 1891. 
Clar = Clarendon Press edition (Clark and Wright), 1869. 
Furness = H. H. Furness's A New Variorum. The Merchant of 

Venice, 1888. 
Abbott = E. A. Abbott's A Shakespearian Grammar. 
Schmidt = Schmidt's Shakespeare Lexicon. 
Skeat = Skeat's An Etymological Dictionary. 
Murray = A New English Dictionary {The Oxford Dictionary). 
Century = The Century Dictionary. 

Other abbreviations are either self-explanatory or such as are in 
common use. 



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CHRONOLOGICAL CHART 

of Shakespeare's plays (see note) the literature dates refer 





SHAKESPEARE 


r„£73£?tu. 


HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY 








>56« 


Birth. Baptism, April 




Quart livre de Panta- 
gruel 


1 ,il\ in dkd. M.ul..\v t 
born. Galileo born 


■ 565 


Father became alderman 


Note, The plays in the columns 

below arc arranged in the 
probable, though purely 

position, Dates, appended 
first published in tli. "Fust 


Sackville and Norton's 
GorbOduc printed 


l J l.ilip I I <>f Spam l^v 


1566 


Brother Gilbert born 


LM.,i! < Roister Doister 


Murder of Ri.rio 


1568 


Father, as bailiff of Strat- 


The Bishops Bible. 
La faille's SaUlle 
Furieux. K.Grafton's 


Mar) r,| Nuts. 1 prisoner 

in fnejainl. Asihiim 
riled I.,.., -1,1.1, ,b,d 
Netherlands War of 


.57* 




Camoens 1 Os Lusiadas 
(The Lnsiads) 


John kn„e ,lnd Mas- 


1573 


Tasso's Arainta 


He,, .l.,n ,.„ horn' 
Domie bom 


.574 


Brother Richard born 


Mirror for Magistrates 


rarl of Leicester's 


•575 




Gammer Gurton's 
Needle. Golding's 

Ovid (complete) 


On. , „ 1 11,., bell, ai 
Hist'.'.™' 


1576 




The Paradiseof Dainty- 
Devices. Gascoigne's 


I he rheatre 'opened 

i" l",i. b'llowed by 

" rheLurtain Hans 
Sachs died 


1577 


Father hi financial diffi- 


Holinshed's Chronicle 


iT.ik, sailed 1,. cil.Ulll- 

navigate globe 






Gossou's School of 


Union of Utrecht. 



1579 


eight) 


Palladis Tamia , -,,e 




l.n. Ii- i ;.i-. <EuphueS 1 .,-., put in ,-,iilin,'. 

Shepherd's Calendar 


15B0 


Brother Edmund bom 




Muntaigne .s Essais Brown founded Separa- 
(first edition) tists Camoens died 


.58. 




Tassn > Gerusalemme 
Liberata 


Hutth Declaration of 

liKk'i.cndnictj 


.582 


5 away ed A "" e """'" 


The Rheims New Tes- 


.\..L-a(k'inia della Crusca 


1583 


Daughter Susanna born 


Garnier's Les Juives 


sir Humplmv Gilbert 
drowned 


■584 




Lyly's Carapaspe. 
Pcele's Arraignment 
of Paris 


William the Silent 
Terrible died 


1585 


1 ainehildremHaninet 
Judith) born 
Probably went to l.on- 


Guarini's Pastor Fido 


Ronsard died 


.586 


Camden's Britannia 


Sir Philip Sidney killed 


■587 




Hakluyt's Four Voy- 


Execution of Mary of 
Scots 


.588 




M.utin M.irprelate: Ikleat ..f Spanish Ar- 
The Epistle | mada 


■5B9 




1'uttenham's Art of 
English Poesie 


Htiiiv,.t Navarre. King 
ot France. Palissy 
died in Bastille 


1590 




Love'sLabour 's 
Lost |M, 1508) 






Marlowe's Tambur- 

Faerie Queene, Books 
I- III. Lodge's Rosa- 
lynde. Sidney's Ar- 


Battle of Ivry 


.59- 




Comedy of Er- 


1 Henry VI 

2 Henry VI 




sidnev's Astrophel and 
Stella. Haringfon's 
translation of Orlando 
Funoso 


Herri, born 


.59a 


Greene's attack in Two Gentlemen 
Groatsworth of Wit of Verona 1 M I 


Richard III (M, 
1597). 3 Henry 


Romeo and 
Juliet (M, 1507* 


Daniel's Delia. Lyly's 
Gallathea (Galatea) 


1 .remedied M-iiLoeue 
died. I...ud..n theatres 


.593 


V (s°e U n% a dit?otfs d ° 5 n ov 


King John 1M1 
Richard II (M. 




Peele's Edward I. 
Barnes's Sonnets 


M h™° wedied ' "^H! 


.594 


1 A Mi'-'P'jmtnor 
Lucres divi fJ.ti'.m.-. Night's Du'.tm 






"<!■„ r." ;..,:.■.- ■ 


.595 


Valuable contemporary 


All 's well that 






Peele's Old Wives' 
Tale. Spenser's Epi- 


1: ,1, lei e\[. edition 
to Guiana Sir J Haw- 
kins died 


1596 


Son Hamnct died. Fam- 


Merry Wives of 
Windsor. Mer- 
chant of Venice 


. Henry IV (M, 
,- v ,s) 2 Henry 
IV (1600) 




Drayton's Mortimeria- 
dos. Faerie Queene, 


,,:.,,. Ihealie. Des- 
.,,,,-. bom. Sir F. 
II, ik. died 


.59, 


Purchased New Place. 






Bacon's Essays (first 
edition). Hall's Virgi- 
demiarum 


The Tyrone rebellion 


1598 


Jonson's Every Man 
in His Humour 


Much Ado About 
Mothing (.600) 


HentyVObco, 




mia. Chapman's Ho- 
mer (pt. .). Lope de 
Vega's Arcadia 


Peele died. Edict of 


.599 


Part proprietor of Globe 
granted.' The Passion- 


As You Like It 






Aleman's Guzman de 

Alfarache. Peek's 
David and Bethsabe 


S|,enser died. Globe 
I'heatre built. Oliver 


"1600 


Won a London lawsuit 


Twelfth Night 




England's Helicon 


died 


■ 6ot 


Fatherdied. The Phoe- 
nix and Turtle 






Julius Caesar 


jonson's Poetaster 


between London adult 


Ito 


Purchased tnor. Stral 






Hamlet (1603) 


D ma k stix r ' S Satir °" 


1. Mlllded 


i6o3 11. ,..,,„....,»■ ...i.d 1. 


TroilusandCres- 






jonson's Sejanus 


'Millenary Petition 
Hampton Court Confer- 




Measure fo 




Othello 


Tec 


....dfa.1.0 - Wilh.1, 






Macbeth 


Don Quixote (pt, 


''ibMnj'-'r.T".'.,,. b"ll. 


,60, 


King Lear given befor 




King Lear (1608) 


Chapman's Monsieu 
D' Olive 


L 6„r > n d ' ed ' 


,60 


1 D ri°S h Dr r Han°° a ' ra 




Timon of Athens 


Dekker and Webster- 
Westward Ho ! 


Secernent of Jam 






i Periclestibo.il 


l A S«B." a 




Milton born. Quebec 










Coriolanus 


The Douai Old Testa- 


Separatists (Pilgrims) 





P elme" ed °""° ""' 


Cymbeline 


Strachey's Wracke and 
Redemption 


Henry 1\ 1 Navarre) 


1611 


highways 


Winter's Tale 
The Tempest 






KingJamesBil.k.AV.I. 
Bellarmine'sPuiSSance 


King ot Sweden 


1613 


Invested in London 
Brother Richard died 


Henry VHI 


Drayton's Polyolbion 


Globe Theatre burned 


... 


Made his .sail. Daughter 
Judith married Thomas 
Quiney. Died April a* 
May t, New Style) 








I&w England- Folio 
Les Tragiques Os77> 


plores l.affin's Bay. 
Harvey lectured on the 
circulation of the blood 



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THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 



DRAMATIS PERSON^ 1 
The Duke of Venice.- 

suitors to Portia 



The Prince of Morocco, 1 



The Prince of Arragon,j 

Antonio, 2 a merchant of Venice. 

Bassanio, his friend, suitor likewise to Portia. 

Salanio, 3 "j 

Salarino, f- friends to Antonio and Bassanio. 

Gratiano, J 

Lorenzo, in love with Jessica. 

Shylock, a rich Jew. 

Tubal, a Jew, his friend. 

Salerio, 4 

Launcelot Gobbo, the clown, servant to Shylock. 

Old Gobbo, father to Launcelot. 

Leonardo, servant to Bassanio. 

Balthasar, " 



:■} 



Stephano 

Portia, a rich heiress. 
Nerissa, her waiting-maid. 5 
Jessica, daughter to Shylock. 

Magnificoes of Venice, Officers of the Court of Justice, Jailer, 
Servants to Portia, and other Attendants. 

Scene : Partly at Venice, and partly at Belmont, the seat of Portia, 
on the Continent. 

1 Dramatis Persons. Under the title The Actors Names a list of 
Dramatis Personam is given in Q3. The list given above is based upon 
Rowe's. 

2 Antonio I Anthonio QqFf. 

3 Salanio, Salarino i QqFf have such spellings as Solanio, Salino, 
Salaryno, Salerino, Slarino, Solarino, with varying abbreviations. 

4 Salerio. See note, p. 86, 1. 214. 

5 her waiting-maid | her wayting Gentlewoman Qs- 



ACT I 

Scene I. Venice. A street 
Enter Antonio, Salarino, and Salanio 

Antonio. In sooth, I know not why I am so sad : 
It wearies me ; you say it wearies you ; 
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it, 
What stuff 't is made of, whereof it is born, 
I am to learn ; 5 

And such a want-wit sadness makes of me 
That I have much ado to know myself. 

Salarino. Your mind is tossing on the ocean ; 
There, where your argosies with portly sail, 
Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood, 10 

Act I. In Qq no division into 5-6. PrintedasonelineinQiC^Ff. 

Acts or Scenes; in Ff into Acts only ; 8. Salarino Q1Q2 I Salanio 

in Rowe first division into Scenes. (Sal.) Ff and so to 1. 56. 

1. sooth: truth. See Skeat. 

3. came by it. ' To come by ' a thing is to get possession of it, 
to acquire it. Cf. I, ii, 8. This expression is still used colloquially. 

5. I am to learn. See Abbott, § 405. 

9. argosies : large merchant vessels usually carrying rich freight. 
The word is probably derived from ' Ragusa,' though some authorities 
(Skeat, Clark, Wright) connect it with the classical ' Argo.' It occurs 
four times, in the singular, in the first scene of Marlowe's The Jezv 
of Malta. 

io. signiors. Shakespeare uses the word ' signior ' in the sense of 
' lord ' or ' gentleman,' and occasionally, as in Much Ado About Nothing 
and Othello, as a title of customary address. — burghers : citizens, free- 
men of a burgh. In As You Like It, II, i, 23, the deer in the Forest 
of Arden are described as " native burghers of this desert city." 

3 



4 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i 

Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea, 
Do Overpeer the petty traffickers, 
That curtsy to them, do them reverence, 
As they fly by them with their woven wings. 

Salanio. Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth, 15 
The better part of my affections would 
Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still 
Plucking the grass, to know where sits the wind, 
Peering in maps for ports, and piers, and roads ; 
And every object that might make me fear 20 

Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt 
Would make me sad. 

Salarino. My wind, cooling my broth, 

Would blow me to an ague, when I thought 
What harm a wind too great might do at sea. 
I should not see the sandy hour-glass run, 25 

But I should think of shallows and of flats, 

19. Peering Fi | prying Q3Q4. — 24. might do at sea Q2Ff Q3Q4 

and piers Fi | for piers Qi. | at sea, might do Qi. 

11. pageants. These were originally the high stages, or scaffolds, 
usually on wheels, on which miracle plays and shows of various 
kinds were given ; then the plays or shows themselves. 

13. curtsy. " Suggested by the rocking, ducking motion in the 
petty traffiquers caused by the wake of the argosie as it sails past 
them." — Fuiness. 

15. venture: what is risked — exposed to "the perils of waters, 
winds, and rocks." — forth. In Shakespeare and in Elizabethan 
literature 'forth' is often used in the sense of 'out,' without any 
verb of motion. See Abbott, § 41. 

17. still: continually. Cf. Fr. toujours. 

18. " Take a straw and throw it up into the air, — you may see by 
that which way the wind is." — Selden's Table-talk. Country folks 
often hold long grass in the air to learn the wind direction. 



scene i THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 5 

And see my wealthy Andrew docks in sand, 

Vailing her high top lower than her ribs 

To kiss her burial. Should I go to church, 

And see the holy edifice of stone, 30 

And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks, 

Which, touching but my gentle vessel's side, 

Would scatter all her .spices on the stream, 

Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks ; 

And, in a word, but even now worth this, 35 

And now worth nothing? Shall I have the thought 

To think on this ; and shall I lack the thought, 

27. docks QqFf I dock'd Rowe. 36. nothing ? Qi | nothing. Q2Ff . 

33. her Fi I the Qi. 

27. Andrew. The name of the ship given in honor either of St. 
Andrew, or, as is more probable, of Andrea Doria (died 1560), the 
famous admiral of Genoa. — docks. More vivid than Rowe's ' dock'd.' 

28. The image is of a ship tilted over on one side, the other side 
in the air, and the topmast down in the sand. — Vailing : lowering. 
Marlowe uses this verb (Fr. avaler, Lat. ad valleni) twice in The Jew 
of Malta, — transitively (V, iii, 1 ) : 

Calymath. Now vail your pride, you captive Christians, 
And kneel for mercy to your conquering foe ; 

intransitively (II, ii, 11) : 

Del Bosco. Our fraught is Grecians, Turks, and Afric Moors, 
For late upon the coast of Corsica, 
Because we vailed not to the Turkish fleet, 
Their creeping galleys had us in the chase. 

33, 34. These graphic figures are reproduced by Scott in Ivanhoe, 
Chapter X, where Isaac recounts to Rebecca his perils and losses 
in the Gulf of Lyons. 

35. Lettsom conjectures that a line has been lost here, but the 
meaning becomes clear if the actor makes a gesture indicating 
bulk or largeness. Shakespeare often leaves his meaning to be 
interpreted in this way. 



* 
6 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i 

That such a thing bechanc'd would make me sad? 

But tell not me ; I know, Antonio 

Is sad to think upon his merchandise. 40 

Antonio. Believe me, no : I thank my fortune for it, 
My ventures are not in one bottom trusted, 
Nor to one place ; nor is my whole estate 
Upon the fortune of this present year : 
Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad. 45 

Salarino. Why, then you are in love. 

Antonio. Fie, fie ! 

Salarino. Not in love neither. Then let us say you are sad, 
Because you are not merry ; and 't were as easy 
For you to laugh, and leap, and say you are merry, 
Because you are not sad. Now, by two-headed Janus, 50 
Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time : 
Some that will evermore peep through their eyes, 
And laugh like parrots at a bag-piper ; 
And other of such vinegar aspect, 

46. Salarino (Salar.) Qi | Sala- 47. neither: Q2F1Q3Q4 I neither? 

nio (Sola.) Q2F1. Qi | neither ! F 2 . 

42. bottom : merchant ship. 

46. Dyce says : " I have little doubt that Shakespeare wrote, '/« 
love ! fie, fie ! ' " This would make a normal blank verse line. 

50. Janus, as the ancient Italian god who represents the spirit of 
opening — the opening day, the opening year (/«/w-ary) — was the 
tutelary deity of gates and archways. As every gate looks two 
ways, Janus was often represented with a double face, one on either 
side of his head. Occasionally a grave face would be associated 
with a laughing one ; hence the peculiar propriety and significance 
of 'two-headed' in Salarino's oath. 

54. other. An old plural form found often in Middle and Eliza- 
bethan English, the result of the final e dropping away from othere 
{othre). Ci. Job, xxiv, 24; The Comedy of Errors, IV, iii, 5. 



scene i THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 7 

That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile, 55 

Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable. 

Enter Bassanio, Lorenzo, and Gratiano 

Salanio. Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kins- 
man, 
Gratiano, and Lorenzo. Fare ye well : 
We leave you now with better company. 

Salarino. I would have stay'd till I had made you 
merry, 60 

If worthier friends had not prevented me. 

Antonio. Your worth is very dear in my regard. 
I take it, your own business calls on you, 
And you embrace the occasion to depart. 

Salarino. Good morrow, my good lords. 65 

Bassanio. Good signiors both, when shall we laugh? 
say, when? 
You grow exceeding strange : must it be so ? 

Salarino. We'll make our leisures to attend on yours. 

[Exeunt Salarino and Salanio] 

56. Nestor was the oldest and gravest of the Greek heroes in the 
Trojan war. The severest faces might justly laugh at what he 
should pronounce laughable. 

61. prevented : anticipated. Often so in the Bible (King James 
version) and Book of Common Prayer. Words derived from Latin 
and Greek are almost always used by Shakespeare and Elizabethan 
writers in a signification peculiarly close to the root-notion of the 
word. So in this first scene of the play we have 'mortifying' (1. 82), 
in the sense of ' causing death,' and ' conceit ' (1. 92), in the sense of 
'thought,' 'understanding.' 

67. exceeding strange. Compare the colloquial expression, " You're 
quite a stranger." 



8 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i 

Lorenzo. My Lord Bassanio, since you have found Antonio, 
We two will leave you ; but, at dinner-time, 70 

I pray you, have in mind where we must meet. 

Bassanio. I will not fail you. 

Gratiano. You look not well, Signior Antonio ; 
You have too much respect upon the world : 
They lose it that do buy it with much care. 75 

Believe me, you are marvellously chang'd. 

Antonio. I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano ; 
A stage, where every man must play a part, 
And mine a sad one. 

Gratiano. Let me play the fool : 

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come ; 80 

And let my liver rather heat with wine 
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans. 
Why should a man, whose blood is warm within, 
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster? 
Sleep when he wakes, and creep into the jaundice 85 

By being peevish ? I tell thee what, Antonio, — 
I love thee, and it is my love that speaks, — 
There are a sort of men whose visages 
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond ; 
And do a wilful stillness entertain, 90 

With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion 

78. man Q2FfQ 3 Q4 I one Qi. 89. cream Q2F1Q3Q4 I dream Qi. 
84. alabaster | ala blaster QqFf. 

79. play the fool: act the part of a jester. Shakespeare draws 
many impressive illustrations from the trade of the professional 
' fool ' — so important a character in the old comedies. Cf . Sonnets, 
cxvi, 9 ; 2 Henry IV, II, ii, 1 54. 

82. mortifying: causing death. See note, p. 7, 1. 61. 
91. opinion : reputation. So also in 1. 102. 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 9 

Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit ; 

As who should say, ' I am Sir Oracle, 

And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark ! ' 

my Antonio, I do know of these, 95 
That therefore only are reputed wise 

For saying nothing ; when, I am very sure, 

If they should speak, would almost damn those ears, 

Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools. 

1 '11 tell thee more of this another time : 100 
But fish not, with this melancholy bait, 

For this fool gudgeon, this opinion. 

,93. am Sir Qq | am Sir an Ff. 97. when QqFf | who Rowe. 

95. these Q2F1Q3Q4 I those Q v 98. damn F 4 I dam Q1Q2F1. ■ 

92. conceit: though tfulness. See note, p. 7, 1. 61. 

93. As who should say. Abbott, §257. — Sir Oracle: one who 
thinks himself possessed of oracular or prophetic wisdom, a wise- 
acre. With regard to the expression compare Sir Valour in Troihis 
and Cressida, I, iii, 176, Sir Prudence in The Tempest, II, i, 286, and 
Sir Smile in The Winter 's Tale, I, ii, 196. 

97. Rowe substituted ' who' for 'when,' thus furnishing an obvious 
nominative for 'would' in the following line, but in Shakespeare 
and other Elizabethan writers the nominative is often omitted when 
the meaning is clear without it. 

99. Referring to the judgment pronounced in the Gospel against 
him who says to his brother, " Thou fool." The meaning obviously 
is, that if those who " only are reputed wise for saying nothing " 
should go to talking, they would be apt to damn their hearers by 
provoking them to utter this reproach. A thing is often said to 'do' 
that which it any way 'causes to be done.' In Shakespeare are 
many instances of such usage, as in Hamlet, III, iv, 42. So in the 
text, ' damn' is a causative verb, and the meaning is — would almost 
cause those hearers to be damned. 

101, 102. Do not bait your hook with this melancholy to catch 
this worthless fish. ' Gudgeon' is the name of a small fish very easily 
caught, which none but fools would care to catch. 



10 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i 

Come, good Lorenzo. Fare ye well awhile : 
I '11 end my exhortation after dinner. 

Lorenzo. Well, we will leave you, then, till dinner-time. 105 
I must be one of these same dumb wise men, 
For Gratiano never lets me speak. 

Gratiano. Well, keep me company but two years moe, 
Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own tongue. 

Antonio. Farewell : I '11 grow a talker for this gear, no 

Gratiano. Thanks, i' faith ; for silence is only com- 
mendable 
In a neat's tongue dried, and a maid not vendible. 

\_Exeunt Gratiano and Lorenzo] 

Antonio. Is that any thing now? 

Bassanio. Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, 
more than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two 
grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chafl : you shall seek 
all day ere you find them ; and when you have them, they 
are not worth the search. 118 

Antonio. Well, tell me now, what lady is the same 
To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage, 120 

That you to-day promis'd to tell me of? 

Bassanio. 'T is not unknown to you, Antonio, 
How much I have disabled mine estate, 



108. moe (mo) QqFf | more Rowe. 115. as omitted in Ff. 

113. Is that Rowe's emendation 121. of ? Ff | of. Qq. 

I It is that QqFf. 

108. moe. So read the Quartos and Folios ; Rowe substituted 
'more.' Scholars find a distinction in Middle English between the 
two forms, — ' mo,' or ' moe,' being used of number and with collec- 
tive nouns, ' more ' having reference specifically to size. 

no. gear. A word of wide, general import, often used of any 
business or affair in hand. 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE n 

By something showing a more swelling port 

Than my faint means would grant continuance : 125 

Nor do I now make moan to be abridg'd 

From such a noble rate ; but my chief care 

Is, to come fairly off from the great debts, 

Wherein my time, something too prodigal, 

Hath left me gag'd. To you, Antonio, 130 

I owe the most, in money and in love ; 

And from your love I have a warranty 

To unburthen all my plots and purposes 

How to get clear of all the debts I owe. 

Antonio. I pray you, good Bassanio, let me know it; 135 
And if it stand, as you yourself still do, 
Within the eye of honour, be assur'd, 
My purse, my person, my extremest means, 
Lie all unlock'd to your occasions. 

Bassanio. In my school-days, when I had lost one shaft, 140 
I shot his fellow of the selfsame flight 

126. "To was originally used not with the infinitive but with the 
gerund in -e, and denoted a purpose. Gradually, as to superseded 
the proper infinitival inflection, to was used in other and more indefi- 
nite senses." — Abbott. 

130. gag'd: pledged. So in 1 Henry IV, I, hi, 172, 173 : 

That men of your nobility and power 
Did gage them both in an unjust behalf. 

137. Within the eye of honour : within the range of what may be 
regarded as honorable. Cf. The Winter's Tale, III, ii, 52. 

141. his. The form 'its' was just creeping into use in Shakespeare's 
day. It does not occur once in the Bible (King James version) as 
originally printed. — Arrows were of various lengths, weights, and 
featherings for different ranges, and ' flight' seems to have been a tech- 
nical expression in archery with reference to range. A ' shaft of the 
selfsame flight ' means an arrow made for shooting the same distance. 



12 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i 

The selfsame way with more advised watch, 

To find the other forth ; and, by adventuring both, 

I oft found both. I urge this childhood proof, 

Because what follows is pure innocence. • 145 

I owe you much ; and, like a wilful youth, 

That which I owe is lost : but, if you please 

To shoot another arrow that self way 

Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt, 

As I will watch the aim, or to find both, 150 

Or bring your latter hazard back again, 

And thankfully* rest debtor for the first. 

Antonio. You know me well; and herein spend but 
time 
To wind about my love with circumstance ; 
And out of doubt you do me now more wrong 155 

In making question of my uttermost, 
Than if you had made waste of all I have : 
Then do but say to me what I should do, 
That in your knowledge may by me be done, 
And I am prest unto it : therefore, speak. 160 

Bassanio. In Belmont is a lady richly left ; 
And she is fair, and, fairer than that word, 

155. do me now Qq j do to me F2F3F4 I do Fi. 

143. forth: out. See note, p. 4, 1. 15. 

144. childhood proof : childish instance or experiment. Similarly, 
"childhood innocence" in A Midsummer Night's Dream, III, ii, 202. 

146. wilful. Warburton suggested 'witless,' and Collier ' wasteful,' 
as substitutes for ' wilful,' but the text needs no emendation. 

154. circumstance : circumlocution". Cf. The Comedy of Errors, V, 
i, 19; Two Gentlemen of Verona, I, i, 40 ; Hamlet, I, v, 127. 

160. prest : ready (Fr. firit, Lat. praestd). 

162. She is beautiful and has what is better than beauty. 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 13 

Of wondrous virtues : sometimes from her eyes 

I did receive fair speechless messages. 

Her name is Portia ; nothing undervalued 165 

To Cato's daughter, Brutus' Portia : 

Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth ; 

For the four winds blow in from every coast 

Renowned suitors ; and her sunny locks 

Hang on her temples like a golden fleece; 170 

Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos' strand, 

And many Jasons come in quest of her. 

my Antonio, had I but the means 
To hold a rival place with one of them, 

1 have a mind presages me such thrift, 175 
That I should questionless be fortunate. 

Antonio. Thou know'st that all my fortunes are at sea ; 
Neither have I money, nor commodity, 
To raise a present sum : therefore go forth ; 
Try what my credit can in Venice do : 180 

That shall be rack'd, even to the uttermost, 
To furnish thee to Belmont, to fair Portia. 
Go, presently inquire, and so will I, 
Where money is ; and I no question make, 
To have it of my trust, or for my sake. [Exeunt] 185 

171. strand Johnson | strond QqFf. 172. come Q2F1Q3Q4 | comes Qi. 

163. ' Sometimes ' and ' sometime ' were used indifferently, and 
often, as here, in the sense of 'formerly,' or 'former.' 

165. nothing undervalued : not at all inferior in value. So, later 
in this play (II, vii, 53), we have "ten times undervalued to tried 
gold." And ' nothing ' as a strong negative is very common. 

178. commodity: merchandise, anything that might be pledged as 
security for a loan, collateral. 



14 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i 

Scene II. Belmont. A room in Portia's house 
Enter Portia and Nerissa 

Portia. By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary 
of this great world. 

Nerissa. You would be, sweet madam, if your miseries 
were in the same abundance as your good fortunes are : 
and yet, for aught I see, they are as sick that surfeit with 
too much, as they that starve with nothing. It is no mean 
happiness, therefore, to be seated in the mean : superfluity 
comes sooner by white hairs, but competency lives longer. 

Portia. Good sentences, and well pronounc'd. 9 

Nerissa. They would be better, if well follow'd. 

Portia. If to do were as easy as to know what were 
good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's 
cottages princes' palaces. It is a good divine that follows 
his own instructions : I can easier teach twenty what were 
good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine 
own teaching. The brain may devise laws for the blood ; 
but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree : such a hare is 

5. aught I ought QqFf. 15. than he F 4 I then be F1F2F3 | 

6. mean Qq | small Ff. then to be Qq. 

6-8. The Folios, with their reading, " small happiness," lose the 
Shakespearian play on words. Here, with < mean ' as with < will ' in 
11. 21,22, the words are used in the double sense so dear to the 
euphuistic Elizabethan. — superfluity comes, etc. One who is rich 
and fares sumptuously sooner gets white hairs, grows old, and dies. 
— comes by. See note on I, i, 3. 

16-17. blood . . . hot temper. These were cause and effect accord- 
ing to the old physiologists ; hence the mediaeval allegorical poets 
often identify the two, and put them for passion and impulse gen- 
erally — a tradition followed by the Elizabethan writers. 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 15 

madness the youth, to skip o'er the meshes of good counsel 
the cripple. But this reasoning is not in the fashion to 
choose me a husband. O me, the word ' choose ' ! I may 
neither choose whom I would, nor refuse whom I dislike ; 
so is the will of a living daughter curb'd by the will of a 
dead father. Is it not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot choose 
one, nor refuse none ? 24 

Nerissa. Your father was ever virtuous ; and holy men, 
at their death, have good inspirations : therefore the lottery 
that he hath devis'd in these three chests of gold, silver, 
and lead, — whereof who chooses his meaning chooses you, 
— will, no doubt, never be chosen by any rightly, but one 
who shall rightly love. But what warmth is there in your 
affection towards any of these princely suitors that are 
already come? 32 

Portia. I pray thee, over-name them ; and, as thou 
namest them, I will describe them ; and, according to my 
description, level at my affection. 

Nerissa. First, there is the Neapolitan prince. 36 

Portia. Ay, that 's a colt indeed, for he doth nothing but 

19. reasoning is not in the Qq | 29. will, no doubt, never Q2FfQ3 

reason is not in Ff. Q4 I no doubt you will never Qi. 

23. Is it QqFoF3F4 | it is Fi. 30. who Qi | who you Q2F1Q3Q4. 

19. reasoning: talk, conversation. Shakespeare uses 'reason,' 
noun and verb, in this sense, II, viii, 27 ; King Lear, V, i, 26. 

22. will. The second 'will' is 'will and testament.' In Sonnets, 
cxxxv, cxxxvi, Shakespeare puns throughout upon the word ' Will.' 

23-24. Double negatives are common in Early and Middle English. 

35. level at : aim at, guess at. Cf. 2 Henry IV, III, ii, 86. The 
figure is that of leveling a weapon with a view to hit an object. 

37. colt. An equivoque. 'Colt' was used for a wild, dashing, 
skittish youngster. Steevens notes that in the sixteenth century the 
Neapolitans were much noted for horsemanship. 



l6 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i 

talk of his horse; and he makes it a great appropriation 
to his own good parts, that he can shoe him himself. 

Nerissa. Then is there the County Palatine. 40 

Portia. He doth nothing but frown ; as who should say, 
1 If you will not have me, choose.' He hears merry tales, 
and smiles not : I fear he will prove the weeping philosopher 
when he grows old, being so full of unmannerly sadness in 
his youth. I had rather be married to a death's-head with 
a bone in his mouth than to either of these. God defend 
me from these two ! 47 

Nerissa. How say you by the French lord, Monsieur 
Le Bon? 49 

Portia. God made him, and therefore let him pass for a 
man. In truth, I know it is a sin to be a mocker : but, he ! 
why, he hath a horse better than the Neapolitan's ; a better 
bad habit of frowning than the Count Palatine : he is every 

40. Palatine Qi | Palentine Q-2FfQ3. 45. be Qq | to be Ff. 

38. appropriation. Used oddly here in the sense of ' addition.' The 
word does not occur again in Shakespeare. Collier suggested as an 
emendation the substitution of ' approbation of,' Shakespeare using 
1 approbation ' more than once in the sense of ' proof.' Qi reads 
' appropriation unto.' 

43. the weeping philosopher. This was Heraclitus of Ephesus, 
who is said to have become a complete recluse, and retreated to 
the mountains, where he lived on pot-herbs. He was called " the 
weeping philosopher" because he mourned over the follies of man- 
kind, just as Democritus was called "the laughing philosopher" 
because he laughed at them. Perhaps Portia has in mind the pre- 
cept : " Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that 
weep." — Romans, xii, 15. 

45. The reference is to the skull and crossbones so often sculp- 
tured on tombstones. 

48. by: about. Cf. II, ix, 25; Love's Labour's Lost, IV, hi, 150; 
All's Well that Ends Well, V, iii, 237. 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 17 

man in no man : if a throstle sing, he falls straight a-caper- 
ing ; he will fence with his own shadow. If I should marry 
him, I should marry twenty husbands. If he would despise 
me, I would forgive him ; for, if he love me to madness, I 
shall never requite him. 58 

Nerissa. What say you then to Falconbridge, the young 
baron of England? 60 

Portia. You know I say nothing to him ; for he under- 
stands not me, nor I him : he hath neither Latin, French, 
nor Italian ; and you will come into the court and swear that 
I have a poor pennyworth in the English. He is a proper 
man's picture ; but, alas, who can converse with a dumb-show? 

54. throstle | Trassell QqFi | 58. shall Qq | should Ff. 

Tarssell F2 I Tassell, F3 I Tassel F4. 

54. throstle. The F2 emendation, ' Tarssell ' [tiercel, tarcel, or 
tercel, a male hawk), was an unlucky attempt to hit the right bird. 
' Trassell ' may be no misprint, but a phonetic representation of a 
pronunciation of 'throstle' still common in Scotland and the north of 
England; though in A Midsummer NighVs Dream, III, i, 130 — 

The ousel cock so black of hue, 

With orange-tawny bill, 
The throstle with his note so true, 

the word is consistently spelled ' throstle,' both in Quartos and Folios. 

55-56. I should ... I should. See Abbott, §§ 322-331. 

59. to : as to, concerning. Portia in her answer uses Nerissa's 
expression ' say to ' punningly in its ordinary signification. 

64. proper : well-formed. The word is still used in this sense in 
certain districts in Scotland. Hebrews, xi, 23 : " By faith Moses, 
when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because 
they saw he was a proper child." Cf. A Midsummer Night's Dream, 
I, ii, 88 ; 2 Henry IV, II, ii, 72 ; As You Like It, III, v, 51. 

65. dumb-show : a dramatic representation, or part of one, shown 
pantomimically. Dumb-shows were common in the early English 
drama and were familiar to Shakespeare's audiences. A dumb-show 
is introduced in Hamlet, III, ii, 145. 



18 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i 

How oddly he is suited ! I think he bought his doublet in 
Italy, his round hose in France, his bonnet in Germany, and 
his behaviour every where. • 68 

Nerissa. What think you of the Scottish lord, his neigh- 
bour? 70 

Portia. That he hath a neighbourly charity in him ; for 
he borrow'd a box of the ear of the Englishman, and swore 
he would pay him again when he was able : I think the French- 
man became his surety, and seal'd under for another. 74 

69. Scottish Qq I other Ff. 72. swore Fi | sworne F2. 

66. doublet : the outer body garment worn by men in the sixteenth 
century, the name having reference to the heavy lining or quilting. 

67. hose: very tight trousers covering the waist and legs. Foot 
covering was not known by this name until after 1600. — bonnet: 
common name for man's headdress in many districts of Scotland 
to-day. This fashion of affecting foreign dress is satirized in a simi- 
lar vein by Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing, III, ii, ^ : "A 
Dutchman to-day, a Frenchman to-morrow, or in the shape of two 
countries at once, as, a German from the waist downward, all slops, 
and a Spaniard from the hip upward, no doublet." Such passages 
resemble descriptions of Elizabethan fops and gallants in Joseph 
Hall's Satires {Virgidemiarum), published in 1 597-1 598: 

How stiffly struts he by, 
All trapped in the new-found bravery. 
The nuns of new-won Calais his bonnet lent, 
In lieu of their so kind a conquerment. 
What needed he fetch that from farthest Spain, 
His grandame could have lent with lesser pain? 

69. The Folio substitution of 'other' for the ' Scottish ' of the 
1600 Quartos was obviously in deference to King James I. 

74. To 'seal' was to 'subscribe'; as Antonio afterwards says, 
I, iii, 144, "I'll seal to such a bond." The principal sealed to a 
bond, his surety sealed under. The meaning therefore is that the 
Frenchman became surety for another box of the ear, to be given in 
repayment of the first. There is satirical allusion here to the fre- 
quent Scottish-French alliances against England. 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 19 

Nerissa. How like you the young German, the Duke of 
Saxony's nephew? 76 

Portia. Very vilely in the morning, when he is sober; 
and most vilely in the afternoon, when he is drunk ; when 
he is best, he is a little worse .than a man ; and when 
he is worst, he is little better than a beast : and the worst 
fall that ever fell, I hope I shall make shift to go with- 
out him. 82 

Nerissa. If he should offer to choose, and choose the 
right casket, you should refuse to perform your father's will, 
if you should refuse to accept him. 85 

Portia. Therefore, for fear of the worst, I pray thee, set 
a deep glass of Rhenish wine on the contrary casket ; for, 
if the devil be within and that temptation without, I know 
he will choose it. I will do any thing, Nerissa, ere I '11 be 
married to a sponge. 90 

Nerissa. You need not fear, lady, the having any of 
these lords : they have acquainted me with their determina- 
tions; which is, indeed, to return to their home, and to 
trouble you with no more suit, unless you may be won by 
some other sort than your father's imposition depending 
on the caskets. 9 6 

77. vilely I vildely QiFf. 89. I '11 1 He Qi | I will Ff. 

80. and. Such is the reading of Quartos and Folios. No need to 
change the word to ' an.' ' And' meaning 'if ' is common in Middle 
and Elizabethan English, as well as in colloquial and provincial use 
to-day. See Abbott, §§ 101, 103. 

91. the having. See Abbott, § 93. 

95. sort. Here used in the sense of ' lot ' ; from the Latin sors. So 
in Troilus and Cressida, I, hi, 376: "let blockish Ajax draw The 
sort to fight with Hector." — your father's imposition : the condi- 
tions imposed by your father. 



20 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i 

Portia. If I live to be as old as Sibylla, I will die as 
chaste as Diana, unless I be obtain 'd by the manner of 
my father's will. I am glad this parcel of wooers are so 
reasonable; for there is not one among them but I dote 
on his very absence ; and I pray God grant them a fair 
departure. 102 

Nerissa. Do you not remember, lady, in your father's 
time, a Venetian, a scholar, and a soldier, that came hither 
in company of the Marquis of Montferrat? 105 



101. pray God grant Qq | wish 104. Venetian, a scholar Q2FfQ3 

F1F2. Q4 I Venetian scholler Qi. 

97. Shakespeare here turns the word 'sibyl' into a proper name. 
That he knew it to be a generic, not an individual name, appears in 
Othello, III, iv, 70 : 

A sibyl, that had number'd in the world, 
The sun to course two hundred compasses, 
In her prophetic fury sew'd the work. 

Bacon, in his essay, Of Delays, also uses the word as a proper name : 
" Fortune is like the market where, many times, if you can stay a little, 
the price will fall. And again, it is sometimes like SybillcCs offer, which 
at first off ereth the commodity at full, then consumeth part and part, 
and still holdeth up the price." The particular sibyl referred to by 
Portia is the Cumasan Sibyl, so named from Cumse in Italy, where 
she had her prophetic seat. Apollo offered to grant any request she 
might make. Her request was that she might live as many years as 
she held grains of sand in her hand. See Ovid, Metamorphoses, XV. 
101. I pray God grant. So the Quartos ; the Folios read, ' I wish.' 
The famous statute of 1605, "to restrain the abuses of Players," is 
perhaps responsible for this change. This 1 " statute expressly states, 
" that if . . . any person ... do or shall in any Stage-play . . . use the 
holy Name of God . . . shall forfeit . . . ten pounds." But elsewhere in 
the Folio of 1623 the name of God is retained in similar expressions, 
I, ii, 46, 50 ; II, ii, 60 ; II, ii, 102, etc., so too much need not be made 
of the influence of the 1605 legislation upon this textual variation. 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 21 

Portia. Yes, yes, it was Bassanio ; as I think he was so 
call'd. 107 

Nerissa. True, madam : he, of all the men that ever 
my foolish eyes look'd upon, was the best deserving a 
fair lady. IIQ 

Portia. I remember him well; and I remember him 
•worthy of thy praise. 

Enter a Serving-man 

How now ! what news? :I 3 

Serving-man. -The four strangers seek for you, madam, 
to take their leave : and there is a forerunner come from 
a fifth, the Prince of Morocco ; who brings word, the prince 
his master will be here to-night. JI 7 

Portia. If I could bid the fifth welcome with so good 
heart as I can bid the other four farewell, I should be glad 
of his approach : if he have the condition of a saint and the 
complexion of a devil, I had rather he should shrive me 
than wive me. 122 

Come, Nerissa. Sirrah, go before. 

Whiles we shut the gates upon one wooer, another knocks 
at the door. [Exeunt] 

106. he was so Qi I so was he Q2Ff 114. seek for you Qq | seek you Ff . 

q 3 q 4 . 123-124. Printed as prose in Qq 

113. How now ! what news? Qq | Ff | first as verse by Knight, 
omitted in Ff. 124- gates Qi I gate Q-2Q3Q4Ff. 

114. The four strangers. Six have been enumerated. Most prob- 
ably this is an oversight on Shakespeare's part. Attempts have been 
made to saddle the mistake on careless editors -and printers ; also 
to found upon it a theory of a first draft of the play (or an older play) 
in which were only four strangers, the English and the Scottish lords 
being probably added in the revision, to please an English audience. 



22 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i 

Scene III. Venice. A public place 
Enter Bassanio and Shylock 

Shylock. Three thousand ducats, — well. 

Bassanio. Ay, sir, for three months. 

Shylock. For three months, — well. 

Bassanio. For the which, as I told you, Antonio shall be 
bound. 5 

Shylock. Antonio shall become bound, — well. 

Bassanio. May you stead me? will you pleasure me? 
shall I know your answer? 

Shylock. Three thousand ducats for three months, and 
Antonio bound. 10 

Bassanio. Your answer to that. 

Shylock. Antonio is a good man. 

Bassanio. Have you heard any imputation to the contrary ? 

Shylock. Ho ! no, no, no, no : my meaning, in saying 
he is a good man, is to have you understand me, that he 
is sufficient. Yet his means are in supposition : he hath 
an argosy bound to Tripolis, another to the Indies ; I 
understand, moreover, upon the Rialto, he hath a third at 
Mexico, a fourth for England; and other ventures he hath, 

Enter Bassanio . . . | Enter Bas- 19-20. hath, squander'd | Theo- 

sanio with Shylock the Jew QqFf. bald inserted comma | hath squan- 

dered QqFf. 

1. well. The word has here something of -an interrogative force. 

4. the which. See Abbott, § 270. 

7. May you. ' May ' originally involved the notion of ability 
(Anglo-Saxon magcut, German mogen). See Abbott, § 307. 

18. the Rialto. "As it were Rivo Alto, a high shore. ... An emi- 
nent place in Venice where Merchants commonly meet." — Florio, 
Italian Dictionary, 161 1. See note on 1. 99. 



scene in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 23 

squander'd abroad. But ships are but boards, sailors but 
men : there be land-rats and water-rats, water-thieves and 
land-thieves, I mean pirates : and then there is the peril 
of waters, winds, and rocks. The man is, notwithstanding, 
sufficient. Three thousand ducats ; — I think I may take 
his bond. 25 

Bassanio. Be assur'd you may. 

Shylock. I will be assur'd I may ; and, that I may be 
assur'd, I will bethink me. May I speak with Antonio? 

Bassanio. If it please you to dine with us. 29 

Shylock. Yes, to smell pork ; to eat of the habitation 
which your prophet the Nazarite conjur'd the devil into. I 
will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with 
you, and so following ; but I will not eat with you, drink 
with you, nor pray with you. What news on the Rialto ? — 
Who is he comes here? 35 

Enter Antonio 

Bassanio. This is Signior Antonio. 

Shylock. [Aside] How like a fawning publican he looks ! 
I hate him for he is a Christian ; 
But more for that, in low simplicity, 
He lends out money gratis and brings down 40 

31. See Matthew, viii, 32. In all Bible translations into English 
in the sixteenth century, from Tyndale's to that of the Bishops' 
Bible, ' Nazarite ' is used, as ' Nazarene ' is in the King James ver- 
sion, to describe a man of Nazareth. 

37. fawning publican. The explanation of this peculiar and difficult 
expression may be found in Luke, xviii, 10-14. Professor Moulton, 
Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist, p. 61, note, suggests that this line 
should be given to Antonio. 



24 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act I 

The rate of usance here with us in Venice. 

If I can catch him once upon the hip, 

I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. 

He hates our sacred nation ; and he rails, 

Even there where merchants most do congregate, 45 

On me, my bargains, and my well-won thrift, 

Which he calls interest. Cursed be my tribe, 

If I forgive him ! 

Bassanio. Shylock, do you hear ? 

Shylock. I am debating of my present store ; 
And, by the near guess of my memory, 5° 

I cannot instantly raise up the gross 
Of full three thousand ducats. What of that? 
Tubal, a wealthy Hebrew of my tribe, 

46. well-won Qq | well-worn Ff. 48. Shylock | Shyloch Q2. 

41. 'Usance,' 'usury,' and 'interest' were all terms of precisely the 
same import in Shakespeare's time ; there being then no such law 
or custom whereby ' usury ' has since come to mean the taking of 
interest above a certain rate. How the taking of interest, at what- 
ever rate, was commonly esteemed at that time is shown in Lord 
Bacon's essay, Of Usurie, where he mentions the popular arguments 
against it : " that the usurer is the greatest Sabbath Breaker, because 
his Plough goeth every Sunday . . . that the usurer breaketh the 
First Law, that was made for Mankind after the Fall ; which was, hi 
sudor e Vultiis tui comedes Panem tuum. 1 . . . That usurers should have 
Orange-tawney Bonnets, because they do Judaize. That it is against 
Nature, for Money to beget Money . . ." From this it is plain that 
usury was regarded as a badge of Judaism. 

42. upon the hip. Some explain this as a phrase of wrestling; 
others, of hunting. To ' have one on the hip ' was to have the 
advantage. Henley thinks the explanation of the expression may 
be found in Genesis, xxxii, 24-32. Cf. IV, i, 329, and Othello, 
II, i, 314. 

1 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread. 



scene in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 25 

Will furnish me. But, soft ! how many months 

Do you desire ? — \_To Ant.] Rest you fair, good signior ; 

Your worship was the last man in our mouths. 56 

Antonio. Shylock, although I neither lend nor borrow, 
By taking nor by giving of excess, 
Yet, to supply the ripe wants of my friend, 
I '11 break a custom. — Is he yet possess'd 60 

How much ye would? 

Shylock. Ay, ay, three thousand ducats. 

Antonio. And for three months. 

Shylock. I had forgot, — three months ; you told me so. 
Well then, your bond ; and, let me see ; but hear you ; 
Methought you said you neither lend nor borrow 65 

Upon advantage. 

Antonio. I do never use it. 

Shylock. When Jacob graz'd his uncle Laban's sheep, — 
This Jacob from our holy Abram was 

55. [To Ant. ] Rowe. 60-61. Is he . . . ye would Q2Q3Q4 

57. although Qi | albeit Q2F1Q3 | are you resolv'd, How much he 

Q4. would have Qi | is he yet possest 

5g. ripe QqFf | rife Johnson conj. How much he would Ff. 

55. Rest you fair : good health to you ! may you continue well ! 
— a conventional greeting where ' God ' may be understood as the sub- 
ject of 'rest,' as in the common Elizabethan wish, especially at part- 
ing, " God rest you merry ! " Cf. As You Like It, V, i, 65. 

60-61. Is he yet possess'd How much ye would? This is the reading 
of the Second Quarto, and Furnivall calls it the test passage in deter- 
mining the superiority of this Quarto to the First. Furness prefers and 
defends the reading of the First Quarto, adding at the close of his 
argument, " if, however, the text of Q 2 is to be preferred, I should 
certainly change the ye, not into you, as Theobald changed it, but 
into we, as suggested by Walker and adopted by Dyce and Hudson." * 
The Folio reading is obviously a mistake. — possess'd: informed. 

1 In the earlier editions of Hudson's Shakespeare. 



26 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act I 

(As his wise mother wrought in his behalf) 

The third possessor ; ay, he was the third, — 7° 

Antonio. And what of him? did he take interest? 

Shylock. No, not take interest ; not, as you would say, 
Directly interest : mark what Jacob did. 
When Laban and himself were compromis'd 
That all the eanlings which were streak'd and pied 75 

Should fall as Jacob's hire, 
The skilful shepherd pill'd me certain wands ; 
He stuck them up before the fulsome ewes, 
Who, then conceiving, did in eaning time 
Fall parti-colour'd lambs, and those were Jacob's. 8o 

This was a way to thrive, and he was blest : 
And thrift is blessing, if men steal it not. 

Antonio. This was a venture, sir, that Jacob serv'd for ; 
A thing not in his power to bring to pass, 
But sway'd and fashion'd by the hand of heaven. 85 

Was this inserted to make interest good? 
Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams? 

Shylock. I cannot tell ; I make it breed as fast. 
But note me, signior. 

70. third, — Dyce | third. QqFf. 77. pill'd | pil'd Fj | peel'd Pope. 

70. The third possessor. Reckoning Abraham himself as the first. 
How Jacob's " wise mother wrought " is told in Genesis, xxvii. 

75. eanlings : newborn lambs. — pied : spotted. 

77. me. This is the ethical dative, with the force of ' mark me 
well,' as in / Henry IV, II, iv, 233, 241. See Abbott, § 220. 

79. eaning time : lambing season. From Anglo-Saxon ednian, 
'bring forth.' 

86. Was this inserted in Scripture? 

86, 88. " The Greek word for interest, t6kos, is the exact equivalent 
of the English word breed, and the idea underlying the two was 
regularly connected with that of interest in ancient discussions. The 



scene in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 27 

Antonio. Mark you this, Bassanio, 

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. 9° 

An evil soul, producing holy witness, 
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek ; 
A goodly apple rotten at the heart : 
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath ! 94 

Shylock. Three thousand ducats, — 'tis a good round sum. 
Three months from twelve, — then, let me see ; the rate — 

Antonio. Well, Shylock, shall we be beholding to you? 

Shylock. Signior Antonio, many a time and oft ^-^ 
In the Rialto you have rated me 99 

, 94. goodly QqFf | godly Rowe 1 96. then, let me see; the rate — 

comely Bailey conj. Camb | then let me see the rate. QqFf. 

same idea is present throughout the dispute between Antonio and 
Shylock. . . . They considered the distinction between the using of 
flesh and metal for the medium of wealth to be the essential point 
in their dispute." — Moulton, Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist, 
p. 63. Hence, according to Moulton, the root-idea of the conversa- 
tion flashes into Shylock's mind the idea of the bond. 
90. Cf. The Jew of Malta, I, ii, 112 : 

What, bring you Scripture to confirm your wrongs ? 

94. goodly. Rowe substituted 'godly.' Walker made the same 
change, remarking that ' goodly ' and ' godly,' and, in like manner, 
' good ' and ' God,' have been confounded in various passages of old 
English writers. Dyce held that the ' goodly ' of Quartos and Folios 
was repeated from the preceding line by a printer's mistake. 

97. beholding : beholden. A common sixteenth century corruption. 

99. Rialto. In this scene we have already had "on the Rialto" 
and " upon the Rialto." Concerning the place meant, Rogers thus 
speaks in one of the notes to his poem on Italy : " Rialto is the 
name, not of the bridge, but of the island from which it is called ; 
and the Venetians say il ponte di Rialto, as we say Westminster- 
bridge. In that island is the exchange ; and I have often walked 
there as on classic ground. In the days of Antonio and Bassanio it 
was second to none." See note on 1. 18. 



28 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i 

About my moneys and my usances : ioo 

Still have I borne it with a patient shrug ; 

For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe. 

You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog, 

And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine, 

And all for use of that which is mine own. 105 

Well then, it now appears you need my help : 

Go to, then ; you come to me, and you say, 

' Shylock, we would have moneys : ' you say so ; 

You, that did void your rheum upon my beard, 

And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur no 

Over your threshold : moneys is your suit. 

What should I say to you? Should I not say, 

1 Hath a dog money ? is it possible 

A cur can lend three thousand ducats? ' or 

Shall I bend low, and in a bondman's key, 115 

With bated breath and whispering humbleness, 

Say this, — 

' Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last ; 

You spurn'd me such a day ; another time 

You call'd me dog; and for these courtesies 120 

I '11 lend you thus much moneys ' ? u-^' 

Antonio. I am as like to call thee so again, 
To spit on thee again, to spurn thee too. 
If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not 

104. spit F3F4 I spet QqFiF2. 118. spit | spet QqFf . 

114. can Qq | should Ff. 119. day ; another time Ff | day 

117-118. Printed as one line in another time Qq. 
QqFf. 123. too Ff I to Qq. 

104. gaberdine : a long, coarse outer garment or frock. Caliban, 
in The Tempest, II, ii, 40, wears one big enough, it seems, to wrap 
both himself and Trinculo in. 



scene in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 29 

As to thy friends ; for when did friendship take 125 

A breed of barren metal of his friend ? 

But lend it rather to thine enemy ; 

Who if he break, thou mayst with better face 

Exact the penalty. 

Shylock. Why, look you, how you storm ! 

I would be friends with you, and have your love, 130 

Forget the shames that you have stain'd me with, 
Supply your present wants, and take no doit 
Of usance for my moneys, and you '11 not hear me : 
This is kind I offer. 

Bassanio. This were kindness. 

Shylock. This kindness will I show : 

Go with me to a notary, seal me there 136 

Your single bond ; and, in a merry sport, 
If you repay me not on such a day, 
In such a place, such sum or sums as are 
Express'd in the condition, let the forfeit 140 

Be nominated for an equal pound 
Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken 
In what part of your body pleaseth me. 

125. friends QqFi | friend F2F3F4. 129. penalty Qq | penalties Ff. 

126. breed of Ff | breed for Qq. 143. pleaseth Qq | it pleaseth Ff. 

126. breed: interest ('bred' from the principal). 

128. Who if he break. Doubling of the subject, ' who ' and ' he,' in 
relative clauses was common with Elizabethan writers. Bacon has it 
often. So in The Advancement of Learning : "Which though it 
be not true, yet I forbear to note any deficiencies." But 'who' in 
this line may be equal to 'from whom.' See Abbott, § 249. 

132. doit : small Dutch coin of little value. 

141-142. The language is odd, and rather obscure. The sense 
probably is : Let the forfeiture of a pound of your flesh be named 
or specified as an equivalent for the debt. 



30 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i 

Antonio. Content, in faith ; I '11 seal to such a bond, 
And say there is much kindness in the Jew. 145 

Bassanio. You shall not seal to such a bond for me : 
I '11 rather dwell in my necessity. 

Antonio. Why, fear not, man ; I will not forfeit it : 
Within these two months, that 's a month before 
This bond expires, I do expect return 150 

Of thrice three times the value of this bond. 

Shylock. O father Abram, what these Christians are, 
Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect 
The thoughts of others ! — Pray you, tell me this : 
If he should break his day, what should I gain 155 

By the exaction of the forfeiture? 
A pound of man's flesh taken from a man 
Is not so estimable, profitable neither, 
As flesh of muttons, beefs, or goats. I say, 
To buy his favour, I extend this friendship : 160 

If he will take it, so ; if not, adieu ; 
And, for my love, I pray you wrong me not. 

Antonio. Yes, Shylock, I will seal unto this bond. 

Shylock. Then meet me forthwith at the notary's : 
Give him direction for this merry bond ; 165 

And I will go and purse the ducats straight ; 
See to my house, left in the fearful guard 

153. dealings teaches QqFi | deal- 161. it, so Q2FfQ3Q4 I it so Qi. 

ing teaches F2F3F4. 167. fearful | fearless Warburton. 

153. teaches. This is probably the old Northern plural irw, still 
common in Scottish dialect : " when the kye comes hame." See 
Abbott, § 333 . 

155. break his day : fail to pay on the day appointed. 

167. fearful guard : a guard not to be trusted, or that gives cause 
of fear. ' To fear' was used in an active as well as a passive sense. 
So in the next scene : " this aspect of mine Hath fear'd the valiant." 



scene in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 31 

Of an unthrifty knave ; and presently 
I will be with you. 

Antonio. Hie thee, gentle Jew. [Exit Shylock] 

The Hebrew will turn Christian : he grows kind. 170 

Bassanio. I like not fair terms and a villain's mind. 

Antonio. Come on : in this there can be no dismay ; 
My ships come home a month before the day. [Exeunt] 

169-170. Antonio's speech printed This Ff. — grows kind Ff | grows so 
as prose in QqFf. kind Qi. 

170. The QqPopeCapellCamb | 171. terms | teames Ff. 



ACT II 

Scene I. Belmont. A room in Portia's house 

Flourish of cornets. Enter the Prince of Morocco and 
his train ; Portia, Nerissa, and others attending 

Morocco. Mislike me not for my complexion, 
The shadow'd livery of the burnish'd sun, 
To whom I am a neighbour and near bred. 
Bring me the fairest creature northward born, 
Where Phoebus' fire scarce thaws the icicles, 5 

And let us make incision for your love, 
To prove whose blood is reddest, his or mine. 
I tell thee, lady, this aspect of mine 
Hath fear'd the valiant : by my love, I swear 
The best-regarded virgins of our clime 10 

Have lov'd it too. I would not change this hue, 
Except to steal your thoughts, my gentle queen. 

4. Bring me the Ff | bring the Qi. 11. Have Ff | Hath Qi. 

1. The old stage direction introducing this second scene and its 
characters contains a graphic description of the Prince of Morocco : 
" Enter Morochus, a tawny Moor all in white, and three or four 
followers accordingly, with Portia, Nerissa, and their train. Flo. 
Cornets." 

2. burnish'd. Collier suggested 'burning' as an emendation, and 
this reading appeared in the earlier editions of Hudson's Shakespeare. 

7. " Red blood is a traditionary sign of courage. Thus, Macbeth 
calls one of his frightened soldiers a ' lily-liver'd ' boy ; again, in this 
play, cowards are said to have ' livers as white as milk ' ; and an 
effeminate and timorous man is termed a milksop." — Johnson. For 
the superlative, ' reddest,' see Abbott, § 10. 

32 



scene i THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 33 

Portia. In terms of choice I am not solely led 
By nice direction of a maiden's eyes ; 

Besides, the lottery of my destiny 15 

Bars me the right of voluntary choosing : 
But, if my father had not scanted me, 
And hedg'd me by his wit, to yield myself 
His wife who wins me by that means I told you, 
Yourself, renowned Prince, then stood as fair 20 

As any comer I have look'd on yet 
For my affection. 

Morocco. Even for that I thank you : 

Therefore, I pray you, lead me to the caskets, 
To try my fortune. By this scimitar 

That slew the Sophy, and a Persian prince 25 

That won three fields of Sultan Solyman, 
I would out-stare the sternest eyes that look, 

18. wit QqFf I will Hanmer 27. out-stare Qi | ore-stare £>2Ff 

(Theobald conj.). Q3Q4. 

14. Portia means that reason and judgment have a voice potential 
in her thoughts of marriage. So in Hamlet, IV, iii, 4 : " the dis- 
tracted multitude, Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes." 

18. wit: judgment, foresight. Theobald suggested 'will' as an 
emendation, and this reading was adopted in previous editions of 
Hudson's Shakespeare. 

25. Sophy. From The History of the Warres between the Ttcrkes 
and the Persians (London, 1595), Shakespeare might have learned 
that " Soffi and Sofito, an ancient word signifying a wise man . . . 
is growen to be the common name of the Emperour of Persia." 
Ismael Sophi is said to have been the founder of what was called 
the Suffavian dynasty. The same potentate is twice referred to in 
Twelfth Night (II, v, 198 ; III, iv, 307). 

26. Sultan Solyman. The reference is doubtless to Solyman the 
Magnificent, the greatest sultan of the sixteenth century, who led a 
disastrous campaign against the Persians in 1535. 



34 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii 

Outbrave the heart most daring on the earth, 

Pluck the young sucking cubs from the she-bear, 

Yea, mock the lion when he roars for prey, 30 

To win the lady. But, alas the while ! 

If Hercules and Lichas play at dice 

Which is the better man, the greater throw 

May turn by fortune from the weaker hand : 

So is Alcides beaten by his rage ; 35 

And so may I, blind fortune leading me, 

Miss that which one un worthier may attain, 

And die with grieving. 

Portia. You must take your chance ; 

And either not attempt to choose at all, 
Or swear, before you choose, if you choose wrong 40 

Never to speak to lady afterward 
In way of marriage : therefore be advis'd. 

Morocco. Nor will not. Come, bring me unto my 
chance. 

31. the lady | thee, lady Rowe 35. rage QqFf | page Theobald. 

QqFf. 

31. alas the while. An imprecation upon contemporary conditions 
like " Woe the while ! " " Woe worth the day ! " 

32-33. If they try the question of which is the braver man by a 
game of dice. The story of Lichas and his bringing to Hercules the 
" shirt bestained with the blood of Nessus " is found in Ovid's 
Metamorphoses, IX. Hercules was a descendant of Alcasus, and so 
is called, in the Greek idiom, Alcides, in 1. 35. See also III, ii, 55. 

35. rage. Almost all modern editors have accepted Theobald's 
emendation, 'page.' But the text as it stands is more poetical and 
Shakespearian. For an ingenious defense of the Folio reading see 
Porter and Clarke's ' First Folio ' edition of the play. 

42. advis'd. " Therefore be not precipitant ; consider well what 
you are to do. 'Advis'd ' is the word opposite to ' rash.' " — Johnson. 

43. Nor . . . not. See note, p. 16, 1. 24. 



scene II THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 35 

Portia. First, forward to the temple : after dinner 
Your hazard shall be made. 

Morocco. Good fortune then ! 45 

To make me blest or cursed' st among men. 

[Cornets, and exeunt] 

Scene II. Venice. A street 

Enter Launcelot 

Launcelot. Certainly my conscience will serve me to 
run from this Jew my master. The fiend is at mine elbow, 
and tempts me, saying to me, ' Gobbo, Launcelot Gobbo, 
good Launcelot,' or ' good Gobbo,' or ' good Launcelot 
Gobbo, use your legs, take the start, run away.' My con- 
science says, 'No; take heed, honest Launcelot; take 
heed, honest Gobbo,' or, as aforesaid, ' honest Launcelot 
Gobbo ; do not run ; scorn running with thy heels.' Well, 

Enter Launcelot | Enter Laun- 3. tempts QqFiF2 I attempts F3 

celot alone Rowe | Enter the Clowne F4. — Gobbo Qi | Iobbe Q2F1 1 Job 
alone QqFf. F3. 

44. temple. Keightley wished to substitute ' table,' but possibly 
Portia's command to the Prince is to go to the church to take the 
oath mentioned just before, and described more particularly in the 
ninth scene of this act. -Bibles were not kept in private houses in 
Shakespeare's time ; and such an oath had to be taken on the Bible. 

46. The force of the superlative in ' cursed'st ' retroacts on ' blest ' ; 
so that the sense is ' most blest or most cursed.' So in Measure for 
Measure, IV, vi, 13, " The generous and gravest citizens." 

8. To scorn a thing with the heels appears to have been an old 
phrase for spurning or kicking at a thing. Shakespeare has the 
phrase again in Much Ado About Nothing, III, iv, 50. Launcelot 
seems to be in chase of a quibble between the heels as used in 
kicking, and the heels as used in running. 



36 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act it 

the most courageous fiend bids me pack : ' Via ! ' says the 
fiend ; ' away ! ' says the fiend ; ' for the heavens, rouse up 
a brave mind,' says the fiend, ' and run.' Well, my con- 
science, hanging about the neck of my heart, says very wisely 
to me, ' My honest friend Launcelot, being an honest man's 
son,' — or rather an honest woman's son ; for, indeed, my 
father did something smack, something grow to, he had a 
kind of taste ; — well, my conscience says, ' Launcelot, 
budge not' 'Budge,' says the fiend. 'Budge not,' says 
my conscience. 'Conscience,' say I, 'you counsel well'; 
' Fiend,' say I, ' you counsel well ' : to be ruled by my con- 
science, I should stay with the Jew my master, who, God 
bless the mark, is a kind of devil ; and, to run away from 
9. Via Rowe | fia QqFf. 19. well Q 2 Ff I ill Qi. 

9. Via : away ! go ahead ! An Italian exclamation of encourage- 
ment, sometimes of impatience, used in Elizabethan London by 
teamsters and watermen. 

10. for the heavens. A petty oath. To make the fiend conjure 
Launcelot to do a thing for heaven's sake, is a bit pf that "acute 
nonsense " which Barrow makes a species of wit. 

15. something grow to. "A household phrase applied to milk when 
burnt to the bottom of the saucepan, and thence acquiring an unpleas- 
ant taste." — Clar. This expression, which suggests dishonesty, is 
still in common use in country districts in Scotland and the North 
of England. 

20-21. God bless the mark. Like 'God save the mark,' an apolo- 
getic phrase. How these phrases grew into such use or acquired such 
a meaning is not very clear. Bible expressions such as " The Lord set 
a mark on Cain," " set a mark on the foreheads of the men," and 
the many similar phrases in the Apocalypse, may have had their 
influence. Certain congenital marks on the person were regarded as 
ominous or ill-boding. So in A Midsummer Night's Dream, V, i, 
418. "Never mole, hare lip, nor scar, Nor mark prodigious." And 
so the phrases may have meant, " May God avert the evil omen ! " 
or, " May God render the token auspicious 1 " 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 37 

the Jew, I should be ruled by the fiend, who, saving your 
reverence, is the devil himself. Certainly the Jew is the 
very devil incarnal ; and, in my conscience, my conscience 
is but a kind of hard conscience, to offer to counsel me to 
stay with the Jew. The fiend gives the more friendly coun- 
sel : I will run, fiend ; my heels are at your commandment ; 
I will run. 28 

Enter Old Gobbo, with a basket 

Gobbo. Master young man, you, I pray you, which is 
the way to master Jew's ? 30 

Launcelot. \_Aside~\ O heavens, this is my true-begotten 
father ! who, being more than sand-blind, high-gravel-blind, 
knows me not : I will try confusions with him. 

Gobbo. Master young gentleman, I pray you, which is 
the way to master Jew's? 35 

24. incarnal Qi | incarnation Qa 27-28. commandment QaFf | com- 

Ff. mand Qi. 

22-23. saving your reverence. Another apologetic expression. This 
phrase usually introduced something coarse or profane ; it is like 
the modern " If you will allow me to say so." 

24. incarnal. The Folios read ' incarnation,' but the First Quarto 
reading, adopted in the text, is the more delicious Gobboism ; as the 
Folio 'commandment' in 1. 27 is for the same reason preferable to 
the First Quarto ' command.' 

32. sand-blind. Launcelot's degrees of comparison — sand-blind, 
high-gravel-blind, stone-blind ! ' Sand,' probably a popular corruption 
of Anglo-Saxon sdm, half. Of course, Launcelot makes it the turn- 
ing-point of a quibble. 

33. try confusions. To ' try conclusions ' is the old phrase for to 
' try experiments.' It is not quite clear whether Launcelot's 'con- 
fusions ' is a blunder for ' conclusions,' or whether it is an intentional 
parody on the old phrase, by way of joke. 



38 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii 

Launcelot. Turn up on your right hand at the next 
turning, but, at the next turning of all, on your left \ marry, 
at the very next turning, turn of no hand, but turn down 
indirectly to the Jew's house. 39 

Gobbo. By God's sonties, 'twill be a hard way to hit. 
Can you tell me whether one Launcelot, that dwells with 
him, dwell with him or no? 4 2 

Launcelot. Talk you of young Master Launcelot ? — 
\Aside\ Mark me now ; now will I raise the waters. — Talk 
you of young Master Launcelot ? 45 

Gobbo. No master, sir, but a poor man's son : his father, 
though I say 't, is an honest exceeding poor man, and, God 
be thank'd, well to live. 4$ 

36. up on Qq I upon Ff. 39. to Ff | unto Qi 

37. marry. Continually used as a colloquial intensive, having the 
force of 'verily,' 'indeed,' or 'forsooth'; like the Latin hercide and 
edepol. It grew from a custom of swearing by the Virgin Mary. . 

40. sonties. Most likely a corruption either of ' saints ' or of 'sanc- 
tity.' Saunctes is an old form of ' saints,' and a pronunciation very 
similar to that suggested in the text is still to be heard in Scotland. 

44. raise the waters : come it over him, have some sport with 
him. Cf. the colloquial expression, "get a rise out of one." The 
explanation, " raise the waters in old Gobbo's eyes," seems strained 
and out of place, though 11. 59-66 may seem to favor it. 

46. master. This word formerly meant something as a title of re- 
spect. "Whosoever studieth the laws of the realm, who studieth in the 
universities, who prof esseth liberal sciences ; and, to be short, who can 
live idly, and without manual labour, and will bear the port, charge, and 
countenance of a gentleman, he shall be called 'master.'" — The Com- 
monwealth of England, 161 2. Old Gobbo shrinks from giving his son 
the title, though he keeps calling him ' master,' not knowing who he is. 

48. well to live. While this expression may mean ' sure of a long 
life,' the common use of the phrase and the spirit of the passage 
rather suggest ' well to do.' The old man is thus humorously made 
to contradict himself. 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 39 

Launcelot. Well, let his father be what a will, we talk 
of young Master Launcelot. 5° 

Gobbo. Your worship's friend, and Launcelot, sir. 

Launcelot. But, I pray you, ergo, old man, ergo, I 
beseech you, talk you of young Master Launcelot? 

Gobbo. Of Launcelot, an't please your mastership. 54 

Launcelot. Ergo, Master Launcelot. Talk not of Mas- 
ter Launcelot, father ; for the young gentleman — according 
to Fates and Destinies, and such odd sayings, the Sisters 
Three, and such branches of learning — is, indeed, deceas'd ; 
or, as you would say in plain terms, gone to heaven. 59 

Gobbo. Marry, God forbid ! the boy was the very staff 
of my age, my very prop. 

Launcelot. \Aside\ Do I look like a cudgel or a hovel- 
post, a staff or a prop ? — Do you know me, father ? &Z 

Gobbo. Alack the day, I know you not, young gentle- 
man : but, I pray you, tell me, is my boy — God rest his 
soul ! — alive or dead ? 

Launcelot. Do you not know me, father? 67 

Gobbo. Alack, sir, I am sand-blind ; I know you not. 

Launcelot. Nay, indeed, if you had your eyes, you 
might fail of the knowing me : it is a wise father that knows 

51. sir Qq | omitted in Ff. 

49. a : he. For Chaucer's use of ' a,' see Kittredge's Troilus, p. 152. 

52; ergo : therefore. Schmidt catalogues Launcelot's foreign words. 

63. Do you know me. Dyce thought a 'not' necessary here — a 
suggestion adopted in early editions of Hudson's Shakespeare. 

67. It was customary for young people to address any old man or 
woman as father or mother. Hence old Gobbo does not recognize his 
son on being called father by him. So, in King Lear, Edgar, while 
leading the eyeless Gloucester, addresses him repeatedly as ' father,' 
without stirring any suspicion of the relationship between them. 



40 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii 

his own child. Well, old man, I will tell you news of your 
son : give me your blessing. Truth will come to light ; 
murder cannot be hid long, — a man's son may ; but, in 
the end, truth will out. 74 

Gobbo. Pray you, sir, stand up : I am sure you are not 
Launcelot, my boy. 

Launcelot. Pray you, let 's have no more fooling about 
it, but give me your blessing : I am Launcelot, your boy 
that was, your son that is, your child that shall be. 79 

Gobbo. I cannot think you are my son. 

Launcelot. I know not what I shall think of that : but 
I am Launcelot, the Jew's man; and I am sure Margery 
your wife is my mother. 83 

Gobbo. Her name is Margery, indeed : I '11 be sworn, if 
thou be Launcelot, thou art mine own flesh and blood. Lord 
worshipp'd might he be ! what a beard hast thou got ! thou 
hast got more hair on thy chin than Dobbin my fill-horse 
has on his tail. 88 

Launcelot. It should seem, then, that Dobbin's tail 
grows backward : I am sure he had more hair of his tail 
than I have of my face, when I last saw him. 

73-74. in the end Q2Ff | at the length Qi. 

72. give me your blessing. After ' blessing ' Dyce inserted the 
direction, " Kneels, with his back to Gobbo." Quartos and Folios 
have no such direction, but Gobbo's amusing mistake about hair and 
beard, 11. 86-87, shows that when Launcelot knelt to receive the 
blessing he did so with his back to his father. 

79. Launcelot probably means " your child that was, your boy 
that is, your son that shall be." 

85. thou. As soon as Gobbo recognizes his son, the ' you ' of respect 
is changed to the ' thou ' of familiarity. 

87. fill-horse : a horse that works in shafts. ' Fill ' is a dialect 
form of ' thill.' 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 41 

Gobbo. Lord, how art thou chang'd ! How dost thou 
and thy master agree? I have brought him a present. 
How 'gree you now? 94 

Launcelot. Well, well; but, for mine own part, as I 
have set up my rest to run away, so I will not rest till I 
have run some ground. My master 's a very Jew : give him 
a present ! give him a halter : I am famish'd in his service ; 
you may tell every finger I have with my ribs. Father, I am 
glad you are come : give me your present to one Master 
Bassanio, who, indeed, gives rare new liveries : if I serve 
not him, I will run as far as God has any ground. — O rare 
fortune ! here comes the man : — to him, father ; for I am 
a Jew, if I serve the Jew any longer. 104 

Enter Bassanio, with Leonardo and other followers 

Bassanio. You may do so ; but let it be so hasted, that 
supper be ready at the farthest by five of the clock. See 
these letters deliver'd ; put the liveries to making ; and 
desire Gratiano to come anon to my lodging. 108 

\_Exit a Servant] 

Launcelot. To him, father. 

Gobbo. God bless your worship ! 

Bassanio. Gramercy ! wouldst thou aught with me ? in 

96. set up my rest. A phrase in frequent use for making up one's 
mind. Said to be taken from the old game of primero, where it 
meant determination to stand upon the cards you held in your hand. 

102. A humorous expression from any one, but with additional 
edge and flavor from a Venetian. In Venice proper it was not easy 
to find ground enough to run away upon. 

in. Gramercy : many thanks. Fr. grand merci. But the word is 
often used as an interjection of surprise. 



42 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act n 

Gobbo. Here's my son, sir, a poor boy, — 112 

Launcelot. Not a poor boy, sir, but the rich Jew's man; 
that would, sir, — as my father shall specify, — 

Gobbo. He hath a great infection, sir, as one would say, 
to serve, — 116 

Launcelot. Indeed, the short and the long is, I serve 
the Jew, and have a desire, — as my father shall specify, — 

Gobbo. His master and he — saving your worship's rever- 
ence — are scarce cater-cousins, — 120 

Launcelot. To be brief, the very truth is, that the Jew 
having done me wrong doth cause me, — as my father, being, 
I hope, an old man, shall frutify unto you, — 

Gobbo. I have here a dish of doves that I would bestow 
upon your worship ; and my suit is, — 125 

Launcelot. In very brief, the suit is impertinent to my- 
self, as your worship shall know by this honest old man ; and, 
though I say it, though old man, yet, poor man, my father. 

Bassanio. One speak for both. — What would you? 

115. infection. A Gobboism for 'affection,' i.e. 'desire.' 
120. cater-cousins. Attempts have been made in recent years to 
connect the word 'cater' etymologically with 'cate,' food, and with 
qitetenr. Johnson's suggestion that it is from quatre, which would 
make 'cater-cousins' mean 'fourth cousins,' is certainly wrong. Old 
Gobbo's meaning is clear : his son and Shylock are not on friendly 
terms. His expression carries an apology with it. 

123. frutify. A Gobboism for 'fructify,' which appears to have 
been a sort of cant term for 'holding forth' (in speech). It has 
been suggested that ' frutify ' may balance ' specify ' (' spicify,' spice 
and fruit), 1. 114. 

124. "A present thus given, and in our days too, and of doves, is 
not uncommon in Italy. I myself have partaken there, with due 
relish, in memory of poor old Gobbo, of a dish of doves, presented 
by the father of a servant." — C. A. Brown. 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 43 

Launcelot. Serve you, sir. 130 

Gobbo. That is .the very defect of the matter, sir. 

Bassanio. I know thee well ; thou hast obtain'd thy suit : 
Shylock thy master spoke with me this day, 
And hath preferr'd thee, if it be preferment 
To leave a rich Jew's service, to become 135 

The follower of so poor a gentleman. 

Launcelot. The old proverb is very well parted between 
my master Shylock and you, sir : you have the grace of God, 
sir, and he hath enough. 139 

Bassanio. Thou speak'st it well. — Go, father, with thy 
son. — 
Take leave of thy old master, and inquire 
My lodging out. Give him a livery 
More guarded than his fellows' : see it done. 143 

Launcelot. Father, in. — I cannot get a service, no ; I 
have ne'er a tongue in my head. — Well, if any man in 
Italy have a fairer table ! which doth offer to swear upon a 

134. ' To prefer ' is, in Elizabethan English, ' to recommend ' as 
well as ' to promote.' Bassanio plays upon the two senses of the word. 

137. The old proverb. Clark and Wright cite here, " The grace of 
God is geir enough " {Ray's Prove?'bs, 1670). The use of 'gear' in 
1. 153 of this scene may strengthen this identification of the proverb. 

142. After 'out' some editions introduce the direction, 'To his 
followers.' 

143. guarded: trimmed with braid. See Murray. 

145. After ' Well ' some editions introduce the direction, ' Look- 
ing on his palm.' 

145-146. Launcelot, applauding himself for his success with 
Bassanio, and looking into the palm of his hand, which by fortune- 
tellers is called the ' table,' breaks out into reflection : " Well, if any 
man in Italy have a fairer table, which not only promises, but offers 
to swear upon a book, that I shall have good fortune." 



44 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii 

book, I shall have good fortune ! Go to ; here 's a simple 
line of life ! here 's a small trifle of wives : alas ! fifteen 
wives is nothing ! aleven widows and nine maids is a simple 
coming-in for one man ; and then to 'scape drowning thrice, 
and to be in peril of my life with the edge of a feather-bed, 
— here are simple 'scapes ! Well, if Fortune be a woman, 
she 's a good wench for this gear. — Father, come ; I '11 take 
my leave of the Jew in the twinkling of an eye. 154 

[Exeunt Launcelot and Old Gobbo] 

Bassanio. I pray thee, good Leonardo, think on this : 
These things being bought and orderly bestow'd, 
Return in haste, for I do feast to-night 
My best-esteem'd acquaintance : hie thee, go. 158 

Leonardo. My best endeavours shall be done herein. 

154. of an eye Qi | omitted in Q2Ff. 

147-148. The line in the palm passing round the ball of the thumb, 
technically known as the Mount of Venus, was called by sixteenth 
century palmists, the line of life ; that which runs from the forefinger 
below the other fingers to the side of the hand, was the line of for- 
tune. " Long and deep lines from the Mount of Venus towards the 
line of life signifieth so many wives . . . These lines, visible and 
deep, so many wives the party shall have." — Saunders, Chiromancie. 
Launcelot, like Subtle in Ben Jonson's The Alchemist (cf. the speech 
beginning ' The thumb, in chiromancy, we give Venus'), was an adept 
in the art of chiromancy, which in his time had its learned profes- 
sors and practitioners no less than astrology. "A simple line of life " 
written in the palm was cause of exultation to wiser ones than young 
Gobbo, though ' simple ' here is doubtless ironical, and balances the 
'simple' in 1. 149. 

149. aleven. "A vulgarism (and archaism) for eleven." — Dyce. 
The expression appears in Q 2 and F x as 'a leven,' suggesting the 
analogy of ' a dozen.' 

151. the edge of a feather-bed. This is a humorous variation of the 
phrase, " the edge of the sword." 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 45 

Enter Gratiano 

Gratiano. Where is your master? 

Leonardo. Yonder, sir, he walks. 

X Exif\ 
Gratiano. Signior Bassanio, — 

Bassanio. Gratiano ! 162 

Gratiano. I have a suit to you. 

Bassanio. You have obtain'd it. 

Gratiano. You must not deny me : I must go with you 
to Belmont. 165 

Bassanio. Why, then you must. But hear thee, Gratiano : 
Thou art too wild, too rude, and bold of voice, — 
Parts that become thee happily enough, 
And in such eyes as ours appear not faults ; 
But where thou art not known, why, there they show 17° 
Something too liberal. Pray thee, take pain 
To allay with some cold drops of modesty 
Thy skipping spirit ; lest, through thy wild behaviour, 
I be misconstru'd in the place I go to, 
And lose my hopes. 

Gratiano. Signior Bassanio, hear me : 175 

If I do not put on a sober habit, 

160. Scene III Pope. 174. misconstru'd | misconstred 

170. thou art Qq I they are Ff. Qq | misconsterd Fi. 

173. lest Q1F4 I least Q2F1. 175. lose Qi | loose Q2F1. 

164. Hanmer and Capell inserted ' Nay ' at the beginning of 
Gratiano's speech and printed it as verse — an arrangement followed 
in the earlier editions of Hudson's Shakespeare. 

166. hear thee. See Abbott, § 212. Professor Gummere declares 
Abbott's explanation to be "certainly wrong," and refers to "the 
excellent discussion of the substitution of ' thee ' for 
by Jespersen in Progress in Language. 

176. habit: demeanor. 



46 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii 

Talk with respect, and swear but now and then, 

Wear prayer-books in my pocket, look demurely ; 

Nay more, while grace is saying, hood mine eyes 

Thus with my hat, and sigh, and say ' amen'; 180 

Use all the observance of civility, 

Like one well studied in a sad ostent 

To please his grandam, never trust me more. 

Bassanio. Well, we shall see your bearing. 184 

Gratiano. Nay, but I bar to-night: you shall not gage me 
By what we do to-night. 

Bassanio. No, that were pity : 

I would entreat you rather to put on 
Your boldest suit of mirth, for we have friends 
That purpose merriment. But fare you well : 
I have some business. 19° 

Gratiano. And I must to Lorenzo and the rest : 
But we will visit you at supper-time. [Exeunt] 

Scene III. The same. A room in Shylock's house 

Enter Jessica and Launcelot 

Jessica. I am sorry thou wilt leave my father so : 
Our house is hell ; and thou, a merry devil, 

Scene III Capell I Scene IV Pope. | Enter Jessica and the Clown Qq 
Enter Jessica and Launcelot Ff. 

180. People of rank used to keep their hats on while eating 
dinner. While grace was being said they were expected to take the 
hat off and hold it over the eyes. 

181. civility : good breeding. " Civilization, refinement." — Clar. 

182. sad ostent : serious appearance. " Show of staid . . . be- 
haviour." — Johnson. 



scene in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 47 

Didst rob it of some taste of tediousness. 

But fare thee well ; there is a ducat for thee : 

And, Launcelot, soon at supper shalt thou see 5 

Lorenzo, who is thy new master's guest : 

Give him this letter ; do it secretly ; 

And so farewell : I would not have my father 

See me in talk with thee. 9 

Launcelot. Adieu ! tears exhibit my tongue. Most 
beautiful pagan, most sweet Jew ! if a Christian do not 
play the knave and get thee, I am much deceiv'd. But, 
adieu : these foolish drops do something drown my manly 
spirit : adieu. J 4 

Jessica. Farewell, good Launcelot. — \Exit Launcelot] 
Alack, what heinous sin is it in me 
To be asham'd to be my father's child ! 
But though I am a daughter to his blood, 
I am not to his manners. O Lorenzo, 
If thou keep promise, I shall end this strife, 20 

Become a Christian, and thy loving wife ! \_Exit] 



9. me in talk Qq | me talk Ff. 13. something Qq | somewhat Ff. 
11. do QqFi I did F2F3F4. 

5. soon at. Here ' soon ' has the effect of emphasis, as in The 
Comedy of Errors, I, ii, 26 ; III, ii, 179 ; Richard III, IV, iii, 31. 

10. exhibit. Most probably a Gobboism for ' inhibit ' or as Halli- 
well suggested, ' prohibit.' But the meaning may be, as Eccles put 
it : " My tears express what my tongue should, if sorrow would 
permit it." 

11. The spirit of this scene, Jessica's reference to Lorenzo 
when giving Launcelot the letter, and the closing words of her 
soliloquy, sufficiently justify the reading of all the Quartos and the 
First Folio. 

16. alack. See Skeat for an interesting note as to derivation. 



48 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii 

Scene IV. The same. A street 
Enter Gratiano, Lorenzo, Salarino, and Salanio 

Lorenzo. Nay, we will slink away in supper-time, 
Disguise us at my lodging, and return 
All in an hour. 

Gratiano. We have not made good preparation. 

Salarino. We have not spoke us yet of torch-bearers. 5 

Salanio. 'T is vile, unless it may be quaintly order'd, 
And better in my mind not undertook. 

Lorenzo. 'T is now but four o'clock : we have two hours 
To furnish us. — 

Enter Launcelot, with a letter 

Friend Launcelot, what's the news? 

Launcelot. And it shall please you to break up this, it 
shall seem to signify. n 

Lorenzo. I know the hand : in faith, 't is a fair hand ; 
And whiter than the paper it writ on 
Is the fair hand that writ. 

Gratiano. Love-news, in faith. 

Launcelot. By your leave, sir; 15 

Scene IV Capell | Scene V Pope. 5- us QqFiF 2 F 3 I as F 4 . 

2-3. Printed as prose QqFf. io-ii. it shall Qq | shall it Fi. 

5. us. Ethical dative, if not a misprint for 'as.' The line means, 
we have not yet bespoken torch-bearers. 

6. quaintly: noticeably — not derived from comptus, but, through 
Old Fr. coint, from cognihis, and connotes the idea of attracting 
attention. 

10. And. See note, p. 19, 1. 80. — break up : break the seal of. 

13. paper it writ. Hanmer suggested the emendation ' paper that 
it writ,' and this reading was adopted in early editions of Hudson's 
Shakespeare. 



scene iv THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 49 

Lorenzo. Whither goest thou? 

Launcelot. Marry, sir, to bid my old master the Jew to 
sup to-night with my new master the Christian. 

Lorenzo. Hold here, take this : tell gentle Jessica 
I will not fail her ; speak it privately ; 20 

Go. — Gentlemen, [Exit Launcelot] 

Will you prepare you for this masque to-night? 
I am provided of a torch-bearer. 

Salarino. Ay, marry, I '11 be gone about it straight. 

Salanio. And so will I. 

Lorenzo. Meet me and Gratiano 25 

At Gratiano's lodging some hour hence. 

Salarino. 'T is good we do so. 

[Exeunt Salarino and Salanio] 

Gratiano. Was not that letter from fair Jessica? 

Lorenzo. I must needs tell thee all : She hath directed 
How I shall take her from her father's house ; 30 

What gold and jewels she is furnish' d with; 
What page's suit she hath in readiness. 
If e'er the Jew her father come to heaven, 
It will be for his gentle daughter's sake ; 
And never dare misfortune cross her foot, 35 

Unless she do it under this excuse, 
That she is issue to a faithless Jew. 
Come, go with me : peruse this as thou goest. 
Fair Jessica shall be my torch-bearer. [Exeunt^ 

23. provided of. " We still retain ' of ' with verbs of construction and 
adjectives of fulness ; but the Elizabethans retained 'of with verbs of 
fulness also." — Abbott, § 171. Cf. V, i, 297 ; Macbeth, I,ii, 13 ; Henry V, 
III, vii, 9. In Bacon's The Advcmcement of Learning we have : " He 
is invested of a precedent disposition to conform himself thereunto." 

37. faithless : unbelieving. Cf . " O faithless generation ! " — 
Mark, ix, 19. 



50 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii 

Scene V. The same. Before Shylock's house 
Enter Shylock and Launcelot 

Shylock. Well, thou shalt see, thy eyes shall be thy judge, 
The difference of old Shylock and Bassanio : — 
What, Jessica ! — thou shalt not gormandize, 
As thou hast done with me, — what, Jessica ! — 
And sleep and snore, and rend apparel out. — 5 

Why, Jessica, I say ! 

Launcelot. Why, Jessica ! 

Shylock. Who bids thee call? I do not bid thee call. 

Launcelot. Your worship was wont to tell me I could 
do nothing without bidding. 

Enter Jessica 

Jessica. Call you? what is your will? 10 

Shylock-. I am bid forth to supper, Jessica : 

There are my keys. — But wherefore should I go? 

I am not bid for love ; they natter me : 

But yet I '11 go in hate, to feed upon 

The prodigal Christian. — Jessica, my girl, 15 

Look to my house. — I am right loth to go : 

There is some ill a-brewing towards my rest, 

For I did dream of money-bags to-night. 

Scene V Capell I Scene VI Pope. 8-9. Prose in Qi | verse in Q2FL 

14-15. In I, iii, 33, Shylock says, " I will not eat with you, drink 
with you, nor pray with you." Did Shakespeare make a slip, or did 
he mean to put the Jew at odds with himself out of hatred to the 
Christian ? Cf. the oversight noted on p. 21, 1. 114. 

18. to-night: last night. See Abbott, § 190. Qi. Julius Ccesar, II, ii, 
76; III, iii, 1. In 1. 36 'to-night' is used in the modern sense. 



scene v THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 51 

Launcelot. I beseech you, sir, go : my young master 
doth expect your reproach. 20 

Shylock. So do I his. 

Launcelot. And they have conspir'd together, — I will 
not say you shall see a masqrue ; but if you do, then it was 
not for nothing that my nose fell a-bleeding on Black- 
Monday last at six o'clock i' the morning, falling out that 
year on Ash- Wednesday was four year in the afternoon. 26 

Shylock. What, are there masques? — Hear you me, 
Jessica : 
Lock up my doors ; and, when you hear the drum, 
And the vile squealing of the wry-neck'd fife, 
Clamber not you up to the casements then, 30 

Nor thrust your head into the public street, 
To gaze on Christian fools with varnish'd faces ; 

27. you omitted in Qi. 29. squealing Q2Ff | squeaking Qi. 

20. reproach. A Gobboism for ' approach.' Shylock chooses to take 
it in the sense of 'reproach.' And he expects Bassanio's reproach 
through the bankruptcy of Antonio. This may have some bearing 
on the question whether Shylock has any hand in getting up the 
reports of Antonio's " losses at sea." 

24-25. Black-Monday : Easter-Monday. The origin of the name is 
thus explained by Stow: " In the 34th of Edward III, the 14th of 
April, and the morrow after Easter-day, King Edward, with his host, 
lay before the city of Paris : which day was full dark of mist and hail, 
and so bitter cold, that many men died on their horses' backs with the 
cold. "Wherefore unto this day it hath been called the Black Monday.' 1 '' 

29. wry-neck'd fife. There has been some dispute whether this 
means the instrument or the musician. Boswell cited a passage 
from Barnabe Rich's Aphorisms, 1618, which appears to settle the 
matter: "A fife is a wry-neckt musician, for he always looks away 
from his instrument." 

32. varnish'd faces. This alludes probably to the painted masks, 
but contains also an insinuation of duplicity, or double-facedness. 



52 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act n 

But stop my house's ears, — I mean my casements : 

Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter 

My sober house. — By Jacob's staff, I swear 35 

I have no mind of feasting forth to-night : 

But I will go. — Go you before me, sirrah ; 

Say I will come. 

Launcelot. I will go before, sir. — Mistress, look out at 
window for all this ; 4° 

There will come a Christian by, 
Will be worth a Jewess' eye. [Exit] 

Shylock. What says that fool of Hagar's offspring, ha? 

Jessica. His words were, 'Farewell, mistress'; nothing else. 

Shylock. The patch is kind enough ; but a huge feeder, 
Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day 4 6 

More than the wild-cat : drones hive not with me ; 
Therefore I part with him ; and part with him 

42. Jewess' Pope Camb I Jewes 46. and he Qq | but he Fi | but 

QqFiF 2 I Jew's F3F4. F2F3F4 Rowe. 

35. Jacob's staff. Genesis, xxxii, 10; Hebrews, xi, 21. 

39-40. In Quartos and Folios this speech of Launcelot's is printed : 

I will go before sir. 

Mistress look out at window for all this. 

Walker suggested the emendation, " I '11 go before you, sir," adopted 
in previous editions of Hudson's Shakespeare. 

42. Pope suggested ' Jewess' ' as the reading here ; but the Quartos 
and First Folio have ' Jewes,' which may mean either ' Jewess' ' or 
' Jew's.' The worth of a Jew's eye was the price with which the 
Jews used to buy themselves off from mutilation. The expression 
became proverbial, and was kept up after its original meaning was lost. 

45. This use of ' patch ' sprang from the motley or patched di'ess 
worn by professional fools. Hence a general term of contempt. So 
used in A Midstimmer Night's Dream, III, ii, 9 ; The Comedy of 
Errors, III, i, 32 ; III, i, 36, etc. Cf. ' cross-patch.' 



scene vi THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 53 

To one that I would have him help to waste 
His borrow'd purse. — Well, Jessica, go in : 50 

Perhaps I will return immediately : 
Do as I bid you ; shut doors after you : 
Fast bind, fast find, — 

A proverb never stale in thrifty mind. [Exit] 

Jessica. Farewell ; and if my fortune be not crost, 55 

I have a father, you a daughter, lost. [Exit] 

Scene VI. The same 
Enter Gratiano and Salarino, masqued 

Gratiano. This is the pent-house under which Lorenzo 
Desir'd us to make stand. 

Salarino. His hour is almost past. 

Gratiano. And it is marvel he out-dwells his hour, 
For lovers ever run before the clock. 

Salarino. O, ten times faster Venus' pigeons fly 5 

To seal love's bonds new-made than they are wont, 
To keep obliged faith unforfeited ! 

Gratiano. That ever holds. Who riseth from a feast 
With that keen appetite that he sits down? 
Where is the horse that doth untread again 10 

52-53. One line in QsFf. 2. make stand Qq | make a stand Ff . 

Scene VI Capell | Scene VII Pope. 6. seal Qq | steal Ff. 

Scene VI. In Halliwell, in Dyce, and in previous editions of Hud- 
son's Shakespeare, there was no new scene here. 

•5. In classic fable Venus rode the air in a chariot drawn by 
doves. Cf. The Tempest, IV, i, 94. 

9. For the omission of the preposition in relative sentences, see 
Abbott, § 394. 



54 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii 

His tedious measures with the unbated fire 
That he did pace them first ? All things that are, 
Are with more spirit chased than enjoy'd. 
How like a younker or a prodigal 

The scarfed bark puts from her native bay, 15 

Hugg'd and embraced by the strumpet wind ! 
How like the prodigal doth she return, 
With over-weather' d ribs, and ragged sails, 
Lean, rent, and beggar'd by the strumpet wind ! 19 

Salarino. Here comes Lorenzo : more of this hereafter. 

Enter Lorenzo 

Lorenzo. Sweet friends, your patience for my long abode ; 
Not I, but my affairs, have made you wait : 
When you shall please to play the thieves for wives, 
I '11 watch as long for you then. Approach ; 
Here dwells my father Jew. Ho ! who 's within? 25 

Enter Jessica, above, in boy's clothes 

Jessica. Who are you? Tell me, for more certainty, 
Albeit I '11 swear that I do know your tongue. 

Lorenzo. Lorenzo, and thy love. 

Jessica. Lorenzo, certain ; and my love, indeed ; 
For who love I so much ? And now who knows 30 

But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours? 

14. younker Rowe | younger Qq 17. the prodigal Qq | a prodigal 
I yonger F1F2. Ff. 

15. scarfed : decked with flags. Cf. All 's Well that Ends Well, 
II, iii, 214. 

21, abode : stay, delay. So in Cymbeline, I, vi, 5.3 : " My man's 
abode where I did leave him." 



scene vi THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 55 

Lorenzo. Heaven and thy thoughts are witness that 
thou art. 

Jessica. Here, catch this casket ; it is worth the pains. 
I am glad 't is night, you do not look on me, 
For I am much asham'd of my exchange : 35 

But love is blind, and lovers cannot see 
The pretty follies that themselves commit; 
For, if they could, Cupid himself would blush 
To see me thus transformed to a boy. 

Lorenzo. Descend, for you must be my torch-bearer. 40 

Jessica. What, must I hold a candle to my shames? 
They in themselves, good sooth, are too too light. 
Why, 't is an office of discovery, love ; 
And I should be obscur'd. 

Lorenzo. So are you, sweet, 

Even in the lovely garnish of a boy. 45 

But come at once ; 

For the close night doth play the runaway, 
And we are stay'd for at Bassanio's feast. 

Jessica. I will make fast the doors, and gild myself 
With some more ducats, and be with you straight. 50 

[Exit above~\ 

Gratiano. Now, by my hood, a Gentile, and no Jew. 

44. are you Qq | you are Ff. 51. Gentile Q1Q3Q4F2F3F4 I gentle 

50. more Ff | mo Q1Q2. Q2F1. 

35. exchange : change of dress. Referring to her masculine attire. 

42. light. Used here punningly in a material and a moral sense. 

43. A torch-bearer's office is to discover. 

51. Gratiano is disguised with a mask, and in swearing by his hood 
he implies a likening of himself to a hooded monk swearing by his 
monastic character. There is also a play on the word 'Gentile,' which, 
as Johnson pointed out, signifies both a heathen and one well-born. 



56 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii 

Lorenzo. Beshrew me but I love her heartily ; 
For she is wise, if I can judge of her ; 
And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true ; 
And true she is, as she hath prov'd herself ; 55 

And therefore, like herself, wise, fair, and true, 
Shall she be placed in my constant soul. 

Enter Jessica, below 

What, art thou come ? — On, gentlemen ; away ! 
Our masquing mates by this time for us stay. 

[Exit, with Jessica and Salarino] 

Enter Antonio 

Antonio. Who's there? 60 

Gratiano. Signior Antonio ! 

Antonio. Fie, fie, Gratiano ! where are all the rest? 
'T is nine o'clock ; our friends all stay for you. 
No masque to-night : the wind is come about ; 
Bassanio presently will go aboard : 65 

I have sent twenty out to seek for you. 

Gratiano. I am glad on 't : I desire no more delight 
Than to be under sail and gone to-night. [Exeunt] 

66. Omitted in Qi. 67-68. Given to Antonio in Qi. 

52. Beshrew me : curse me. So Chaucer uses shrewe in this sense, 
as in The Nonne Preestes Tale : 

" Nay than," quod he, " I shrewe us bothe two, 
And first I shrewe my-self, bothe blood and bones." 

After such an expression as 'beshrew me,' 'but' is not adversative, 
but means 'if not.' See Abbott, § 126. 

66. " The omission of a whole line here in Qi, and continuing 
Gratiano's speech to Antonio, is an inexcusable defect." — Furness. 



scene vii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 57 



Scene VII. Belmont. A room in Portia's house 

Flourish of cornets. Enter Portia, with the Prince of 
Morocco, and their trains 

Portia. Go draw aside the curtains, and discover 
The several caskets to this noble prince. — 
Now make your choice. 

Morocco. The first, of gold, who this inscription bears, 
'Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire;' 5 
The second, silver, which this promise carries, 
'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves; ' 
This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt, 
' Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.' 
How shall I know if I do choose the right? 10 

Portia. The one of them contains my picture, prince : 
If you choose that, then I am yours withal. 

Morocco. Some god direct my judgment ! Let me see ; 
I will survey the inscriptions back again. 
What says this leaden casket? 15 

'Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.' 
Must give, — for what ? for lead ? hazard for lead ? 
This casket threatens. Men that hazard all 
Do it in hope of fair advantages : 

A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross ; 20 

I '11 then nor give nor hazard aught for lead. 

Scene VII Capell | Scene 10. This line is repeated in F1F2. 

VIII Pope I Scene VI Halliwell. 18. threatens. Men Rowe | threatens 

5. many Qq | omitted in Ff. men QqFf. 

4. who. Pope substituted 'which.' But 'who' and 'which' were 
interchangeable in the sixteenth century. See Abbott, § 264. 



58 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE . act n 

What says the silver with her virgin hue? 

1 Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.' 

As much as he deserves ! Pause there, Morocco, 

And weigh thy value with an even hand : 2 5 

If thou be'st rated by thy estimation, 

Thou dost deserve enough ; and yet enough 

May not extend so far as to the lady : 

And yet to be afeard of my deserving 

Were but a weak disabling of myself. 3° 

As much as I deserve ! Why, that 's the lady : 

I do in birth deserve her, and in fortunes, 

In graces, and in qualities of breeding; 

But more than these, in love I do deserve. 

What if I stray'd no further, but chose here? 35 

Let 's see once more this saying grav'd in gold : 

' Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.' 

Why, that 's the lady ; all the world desires her : 

From the four corners of the earth they come, 

To kiss this shrine, this mortal breathing saint : 4° 

35. further | farther QqFf. mortal -breathing Dyce Walker 

40. mortal breathing QqFf | Camb. 

22. virgin. An allusion to the silver light of the moon, or rather 
to the virgin' Diana, who was the moon goddess of old mythology. 
26. be'st. See Abbott, § 298. 
30. disabling : disparagement. Cf. Montrose's My Dear and Only 

ve " He either fears his fate too much 

Or his deserts are small, 
That dares not put it to the touch 
To gain or lose it all. 

40. Christians often made long prilgrimages to kiss the shrine of 
a saint. And Portia, enshrining so much excellence, is compared to 
such a shrine. ' Shrine,' however, was sometimes used for ' statue,' 
and so it may be here. Cf. Cymbeline, V, v, 164. 



scene vii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 59 

The Hyrcanian deserts and the vasty wilds 

Of wide Arabia are as throughfares now 

For princes to come view fair Portia : 

The watery kingdom, whose ambitious head 

Spits in the face of heaven, is no bar 45 

To stop the foreign spirits ; but they come, 

As o'er a brook, to see fair Portia. 

One of these three contains her heavenly picture. 

Is't like that lead contains her? 'Twere damnation 

To think so base a thought : it were too gross 5° 

To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave. 

Or shall I think in silver she 's immur'd, 

Being ten times undervalued to tried gold ? 

O sinful thought ! Never so rich a gem 

Was set in worse than gold. They have in England 55 

A coin that bears the figure of an angel 

Stamped in gold, but that 's insculp'd upon ; 

But here an angel in a golden bed 

Lies all within. — Deliver me the key : 

Here do I choose, and thrive I as I may ! 60 

41. vasty Qi | vaste F1F2 | vast F3F4. 45. spits Rowe | spets QqFf. 

41. Hyrcanian deserts. A wilderness of indefinite extent south 
of the Caspian Sea, often mentioned in old writers as a habitat of 
tigers. Cf. Macbeth, III, iv, 101 ; Hamlet, II, ii, 472. 

51. Lead were unworthy to inclose even her cerements, or her 
shroud. 

53. This is said to have been just the ratio of silver and gold 
toward the close of Elizabeth's reign. 

56. The ' angel ' was so called from its having on one side a figure 
of Michael piercing the dragon. It is said to have been worth about 
ten shillings. Shakespeare has other punning allusions to it ; as in 
The Merry Wives of Windsor, I, iii, 59. 



60 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act n 

Portia. There, take it, prince ; and if my form lie there, 
Then I am yours. \_He unlocks the casket] 

Morocco. O hell ! what have we here? 

A carrion Death, within whose empty eye 
There is a written scroll ! I '11 read the writing. 

[Reads] All that glisters is not gold ; 65 

Often have you heard that told : 
Many a man his life hath sold 
But my outside to behold : 
Gilded timber do worms infold. 
Had you been as wise as bold, 70 

Young in limbs, in judgment old, 
Your answer had not been inscroll'd : 
Fare you well ; your suit is cold. 

Cold, indeed, and labour lost ; 

Then, farewell, heat, and welcome, frost ! 75 

Portia, adieu. I have too griev'd a heart 
To take a tedious leave : thus losers part. 

[Exit, with his tram. Flourish of cornets] 
Portia. A gentle riddance. — Draw the curtains ; go : 
Let all of his complexion choose me so. \Exeunf] 

62-64. hell ! what ... a written 69. timber do QqFf | tombs do 

scroll I printed as two lines in QqFf. Capell (Johnson conj.). 

— I '11 read the writing QqFi | omit- 77. Flourish of comets transferred 

ted in F2F3F4. — No stage directions here from next scene by editors of 

in QqFf. Camb. 

63. A carrion Death : a skull from which the flesh has decayed. 

69. timber. "'Timber' is here a plural noun, and the redundant 
syllable is no sufficient reason for adopting Johnson' s plausible 
alteration." — Halliwell. 

77. part : depart. ' Depart ' was also used for ' part,' " . . . as in 
the Marriage Service ' till death us do part ' is a corruption of ' till 
death us depart.' " — Clar. 



scene viii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 6l 

Scene VIII. Venice. A street 
Elite?- Salarino and Salanio 

Salarino. Why, man, I saw Bassanio under sail : 
With him is Gratiano gone along ; 
And in their ship I 'm sure Lorenzo is not. 

Salanio. The villain Jew with outcries rais'd the Duke ; 
Who went with him to search Bassanio's ship. 5 

Salarino. He came too late, the ship was under sail ; 
But there the Duke was given to understand 
That in a gondola were seen together 
Lorenzo and his amorous Jessica : 

Besides, Antonio certified the Duke 10 

They were not with Bassanio in his ship. 

Salanio. I never heard a passion so confus'd, 
So strange, outrageous, and so variable, 
As the dog Jew did utter in the streets : 
' My daughter ! O my ducats ! O my daughter ! 15 

Fled with a Christian ! O my Christian ducats ! 
Justice ! the law ! my ducats, and my daughter ! 
A sealed bag, two sealed bags of ducats, 
Of double ducats, stolen from me by my daughter ! 
And jewels, two stones, two rich and precious stones, 20 
Stolen by my daughter ! Justice ! find the girl ! 
She hath the stones upon her, and the ducats ! ' 

Scene VIII Capell | Scene IX 8. gondola | Gondylo Qq | Gon- 

Pope | Scene VII Dyce. dilo Ff I Gondalo Rowe. 

6. came Qq | comes Ff. 

8. In Shakespeare's time Venice was the common resort of all 
who went abroad to see the world. " ' To have swum in a gondola ' 
was a phrase almost proverbial for having travelled." — Clar. 



62 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii 

Salarino. Why, all the boys in Venice follow him, 
Crying, his stones, his daughter, and his ducats. 

Salanio. Let good Antonio look he keep his day, 25 
Or he shall pay for this. 

Salarino. Marry, well remember'd. 

I reason'd with a Frenchman yesterday, 
Who told me, in the narrow seas that part 
The French and English, there miscarried 
A vessel of our country richly fraught : 30 

I thought upon Antonio when he told me ; 
And wish'd in silence that it were not his. 

Salanio. You were best to tell Antonio what you hear ; 
Yet do not suddenly, for it may grieve him. 

Salarino. A kinder gentleman treads not the earth. 35 
I saw Bassanio and Antonio part : 
Bassanio told him he would make some speed 
Of his return : he answer'd, ' Do not so ; 
Slubber not business for my sake, Bassanio, 
But stay the very riping of the time ; 40 

And for the Jew's bond which he hath of me, 
Let it not enter in your mind of love-: 

39. Slubber QiFf | slumber Q2Q3Q4. 

27. In Shakespeare the usual sense of ' to reason ' is ' to talk ' or 
'to converse.' Cf. I, ii, 19; Coriolanus, I, ix, 58; IV, vi, 51. 

33. You were best : it were best for you. ' You' here is dative, the 
construction being impersonal. Cf. King Lear, I, iv, 109. 

39. Here the word 'slubber' means 'to slur over,' as in Fuller's 
The Worthies of England : " Slightly slubbering it over, doing some- 
thing for show, and nothing to purpose." But the original meaning 
is 'to soil' or 'to obscure,' as in Othello, I, iii, 227. 

42. mind of love : loving mind, or mind full of love. So Shake- 
speare uses ' mind of honour ' for ' honourable mind.' 



scene ix THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 63 

Be merry ; and employ your chiefest thoughts 

To courtship, and such fair ostents of love 

As shall conveniently become you there : ' 45 

And even there, his eye being big with tears, 

Turning his face, he put his hand behind him, 

And with affection wondrous sensible 

He wrung Bassanio's hand ; and so they parted. 

Salanio. I think he only loves the world for him. 5° 
I pray thee, let us go and find him out, 
And quicken his embraced heaviness 
With some delight or other. 

Salarino. Do we so. [Exeunt] 



Scene IX. Belmont. A room in Portia's house 

Enter Nerissa, with a Servitor 

Nerissa. Quick, quick, I pray thee; draw the curtain 
straight : 
The Prince of Arragon hath ta'en his oath, 
And comes to his election presently. 

Flourish of cornets. Enter the Prince of Arragon, Portia, 
and their trains 

Portia. Behold, there stand the caskets, noble prince : 
If you choose that wherein I am contain'd, 5 

Straight shall our nuptial rites be solemnized : 

Scene IX Capell | Scene X Flourish . . . omitted in Qq. 

Pope I Scene VIII Dyce. 6. rites Pope | rights QqFf. 

52. Enliven the sadness which he clings to or cherishes. 



64 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act 11 

But if you fail, without more speech, my lord, 
You must be gone from hence immediately. 

Arragon. I am enjoin'd by oath to observe three things : 
First, never to unfold to any one 10 

Which casket 'twas I chose; next, if I fail 
Of the right casket, never in my life 
To woo a maid in way of marriage ; 
Lastly, if I do fail in fortune of my choice, 
Immediately to leave you and be gone. 15 

Portia. To these injunctions every one doth swear 
That comes to hazard for my worthless self. 

Arragon. And so have I address'd me. Fortune now 
To my heart's hope ! — Gold, silver, and base lead. 
' Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.' 20 
You shall look fairer, ere I give or hazard. 
What says the golden chest ? ha ! let me see : 
' Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.' 
What many men desire ! That ' many ' may be meant 
By the fool multitude, that choose by show, 25 

Not learning more than the fond eye doth teach ; 
Which pries not to the interior, but, like the martlet, 
Builds in the weather on the outward wall, 
Even in the force and road of casualty. 

7. you Qq | thou Ff. 27. pries F1F2 I payes F3 | pays F4. 

13. marriage. A trisyllable. See Abbott, § 479. 

14. Lastly. An inter jectional line in the Cambridge Shakespeare. 
Capell added it to the preceding line, making ' marriage ' there a 
dissyllable — a reading followed in previous editions of Hudson's 
Shakespeare. The present text follows the Quartos and Folios. 

18. address'd : prepared. Cf. use of ' address ' as a golf term. 

25. By: for. See Abbott, § 145. 

29. Where it is exposed to every accident or mischance. 



scene ix THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 65 

I will not choose what many men desire, 30 

Because I will not jump with common spirits, 

And rank me with the barbarous multitudes. 

Why, then to thee, thou silver treasure-house ; 

Tell me once more what title thou dost bear : 

' Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.' 35 

And well said too ; for who shall go about 

To cozen fortune, and be honourable 

Without the stamp of merit? Let none presume 

To wear an undeserved dignity. 

O, that estates, degrees, and offices 40 

Were not deriv'd corruptly ! and that clear honour 

Were purchas'd by the merit of the wearer ! 

How many then should cover that stand bare ! 

How many be commanded that command ! 

How much low peasantry would then be glean'd 45 

From the true seed of honour ! and how much honour 

Pick'd from the chaff and ruin of the times, 

To be new-varnish'd ! Well, but to my choice : 

' Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.' 

I will assume desert. — Give me a key for this, 50 

And instantly unlock my fortunes here. 

\_He opens the silver casket] 

45. peasantry Q2Q3Q4 I pezantry Qi | pleasantry Ff. 

31. jump with : agree with. So in 1 Henry IV, I, ii, 78. In Th* 
Taming of the Shrew, I, i, 195, we have the verb used absolutely, 
also in Twelfth Night, V, i, 259 : "till each circumstance Of place, 
time, fortune, do cohere and jump That I am Viola." 

43. How many then would keep their hats on who now stand 
bareheaded as before their masters as superiors. 

48. new-varnish'd. To prevent what he deemed a mixed metaphor 
Warburton suggested 'vanned,' i.e. 'winnowed.' 



66 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act n 

Portia. Too long a pause for that which you find there. 

Arragon. What's here? the portrait of a blinking idiot, 
Presenting me a schedule ! I will read it. 
How much unlike art thou to Portia ! 55 

How much unlike my hopes and my deservings ! 
' Who chooseth me shall have as much as he deserves.' 
Did I deserve no more than a fool's head? 
Is that my prize? are my deserts no better? 

Portia. To offend, and judge, are distinct offices, 60 
And of opposed natures. 

Arragon. What is here? 

[Reads'] The fire seven times tried this : 

Seven times tried that judgment is, 

That did never choose amiss. 

Some there be that shadows kiss ; 65 

Such have but a shadow's bliss : 

There be fools alive, I wis, 

Silver'd o'er ; and so was this. 

Take what wife you will to bed, 

I will ever be your head : 70 

So be gone: you are sped. 

52. [Aside] Capell. 71. gone QqFi I gone sir F2F3F4. 

61. Portia is something of a lawyer, and she here has in mind the 
old legal axiom, that no man is a good judge in his own case. 

67. I wis : assuredly. The Middle English adverb iwis, or ywis 
(German gewifi) came to be written r zvis and, later, / wis, as if it 
were subject and verb equivalent to the German ich weifi. 

68. The idiot's portrait was inclosed in the silver casket, and in 
that sense was < silver'd o'er.' 

69. An apparent oversight. The Prince was sworn "never to 
woo a maid in way of marriage." But, of course, he might woo and 
marry a widow ! 

70. You will always have a fool's head, whether married or not. • 



scene ix THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 67 

Still more fool I shall appear 

By the time I linger here : 

With one fool's head I came to woo, 

But I go away with two. 75 

Sweet, adieu. I '11 keep my oath, 

Patiently to bear my wroth. 

[Exeunt Arragon and train\ 

Portia. Thus hath the candle sing'd the moth. 
O, these deliberate fools ! when they do choose, 
They have the wisdom by their wit to lose. 80 

Nerissa. The ancient saying is no heresy, — 
Hanging and wiving goes by destiny. 

Portia. Come, draw the curtain, Nerissa. 

Enter a Servant 

Servant. Where is my lady ? 

Portia. Here : what would my lord ? 

Servant. Madam, there is alighted at your gate 85 

A young Venetian, one that comes before 
To signify the approaching of his lord, 
From whom he bringeth sensible regreets ; 
To wit, besides commends and courteous breath, 

80. lose F4 I loose F1F2F3. 89. courteous QiFf | curious Q3Q4. 

84. what would my lord. A sportive reply to the servant's 
"Where is my lady ?" So in 1 Henry IV, II, iv, 314, the hostess 
says to Prince Henry, " O Jesu ! my lord the prince ! " and he 
replies, " How now, my lady the hostess ! " 

88. sensible regreets : tangible greetings, greetings that may be 
felt (for example, valuable presents). Or may the expression mean 
'feeling salutations' ? See King John, III, i, 241. 

89. commends : compliments. See Richard II, III, i, 38. — breath : 
words. 



68 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii 

Gifts of rich value. Yet I have not seen 9° 

So likely an ambassador of love : 

A day in April never came so sweet, 

To show how costly summer was at hand, 

As this fore-spurrer comes before his lord. 

Portia. No more, I pray thee : I am half afeard 95 

Thou wilt say anon he is some kin to thee, 
Thou spend'st such high-day wit in praising him. — 
Come, come, Nerissa ; for I long to see 
Quick Cupid's post that comes so mannerly. 

Nerissa. Bassanio, lord Love, if thy will it be ! ioo 

[Exeunt] 

ioo. Bassanio, lord Love, Rowe | Bassanio Lord, love Q1Q2F1F2F3. 

97. high-day : holiday, choice, finely phrased. Hotspur speaks of 
" holiday and lady terms," 1 Henry IV, I, hi, 46. Cf . the common 
American expression, " Fourth-of-July eloquence." 



ACT III 

Scene I. Venice. A street 
Enter Salanio and Salarino 

Salanio. Now, what news on the Rialto ? 

Salarino. Why, yet it lives there uncheck'd, that An- 
tonio hath a ship of rich lading wreck'd on the narrow 
seas; the Goodwins, I think they call the place; a very 
dangerous flat and fatal, where the carcasses of many a 
tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my gossip Report be 
an honest woman of her word. 7 

Salanio. I would she were as lying a gossip in that as 
ever knapp'd ginger, or made her neighbours believe she 
wept for the death of a third husband. But it is true, without 
any slips of prolixity, or crossing the plain highway of talk, 
that the good Antonio, the honest Antonio, — O, that I had 
a title good enough to keep his name company ! — 13 

3. wreck'd | wrackt Fi. 8. lying a Fi | a lying Qi. 

6. gossip Report Q2Q3Q4 I gossips 12. honest Antonio | honest An- 

report QiFf. tho. F2. 

3-4. narrow seas. A common name for the English Channel in 
the sixteenth century. Cf. II, viii, 28. 

4. The Goodwin Sands lay off the eastern coast of Kent. The 
name was supposed to have been derived from Earl Godwin, whose 
lands were said to have been swallowed up there in the year 1099. 
In King John, V, v, 13, it is said that the supplies expected by the 
French " are cast away and sunk on Goodwin Sands." 

9. knapp'd : gnawed, nibbled. Cotgrave translates ronger by ' knap.' 
9-10. The presumption being that by that time she has got so 
used to the thing as not to mind it much. 

6 9 



70 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act in 

.Salarino. Come, the full stop. 

Salanio. Ha! what sayest thou? Why, the end is, he 
hath lost a ship. 16 

Salarino. I would it might prove the end of his losses. 

Salanio. Let me say ' amen ' betimes, lest the devil cross 
my prayer, for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew. 

Enter Shylock 

How now, Shylock ! what news among the merchants ? 20 
Shylock. You knew, none so well, none so well as you, 
of my daughter's flight. 

Salarino. That 's certain : I, for my part, knew the tailor 

that made the wings she flew withal. 24 

Salanio. And Shylock, for his own part, knew the bird 

was fledg'd ; and then it is the complexion of them all to 

leave the dam. 27 

Shylock. She is damn'd for it. 

Salarino. That 's certain, if the devil may be her judge. 

Shylock. My own flesh and blood to rebel ! 30 

Salanio. Out upon it, old carrion ! rebels it at these years? 

Shylock. I say my daughter is my flesh and blood. 32 

Salarino. There is more difference between thy flesh and 

hers than between jet and ivory ; more between your bloods 

than there is between red wine and Rhenish. But tell us, do 

you hear whether Antonio have had any loss at sea or no? 

ax. knew Q2Ff | know Qi. 32. and QiFf | and my Q2Q3Q4. 

14. Finish the sentence, or Say on till you come to a period. 
23-24. A sly allusion, probably, to the dress in which Jessica eloped. 
— withal. The emphatic form of 'with.' So in 1. 46. See Abbott, § 196. 
26. complexion : natural inclination. So in Hamlet, I, iv, 27. 
35. red wine and Rhenish : red wine and white. 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 71 

Shylock. There I have another bad match : a bank- 
rupt, a prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on the 
Rialto ; a beggar, that was us'd to come so smug upon 
the mart. Let him look to his bond : he was wont to call 
me usurer; let him look to his bond: 'he was wont to 
lend money for a Christian courtesy; let him look to his 
bond. 43 

Salarino. Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not 
take his flesh : what 's that good for? xa.,,45 

Shylock. To bait fish withal : if it will feed nothing else, 
it will feed my revenge. He hath disgrac'd me, and hin- 
dered me half a million; laugh'd at my losses, mock'd at 
my gains, scorn'd my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooPd 
my friends, he ffied min e enemies; and what's his reason' 1 

rl am a Jew. /Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew 
organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions ? fed with the 
, same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same 
diseases, heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by 
/the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick 
us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if 
you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall 
we not revenge? if we are like you in the rest, we will 
resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what- 
is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jevi 
what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why\ 

37-38. bankrupt Rowe | bankrout 50. his reason Qq | the reason Ff. 
QqFf. 52. dimensions Qi | dementions Fi. 

39. smug : brisk, gay, spruce. Always, when applied to persons, 
'smug' conveys the idea of self-satisfaction. In 1 Henry IV, III, i, 
102, Shakespeare speaks of "the smug and silver Trent." 

47-48. Hindered me to the extent of half a million ducats. 

60. humility : humanity. So in Love's Labour 's Lost, IV, iii, 349. 



72 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi 

revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute; and 
it shall go hard but I will better the instruction. 63 

Enter a Servant 

Servant. Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his house, 
and desires to speak with you both. 65 

Salarino. We have been up and down to seek him. 

Salanio. Here comes another of the tribe : a third can- 
not be match'd, unless the devil himself turn Jew. 

[Exeunt Salanio, Salarino, and Servant] 

Enter Tubal 

Shylock. How now, Tubal ! what news from Genoa? 
hast thou found my daughter? 70 

Tubal. I often came where I did hear of her, but 
cannot find her. 72 

Shylock. Why, there, there, there, there ! a diamond 
gone, cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort ! The 
curse never fell upon our nation till now; I never felt it 
till now : two thousand ducats in that ; and other precious, 
precious jewels. I would my daughter were dead at my 
foot, and the jewels in her ear ! would she were hears'd 
at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin ! No news of 
them ? — Why, so : — and I know not what 's spent in the 
search : why, thou loss upon loss ! the thief gone with so 
much, and so much to find the thief; and no satisfaction, 
no revenge : nor no ill luck stirring but what lights on 

64. Servant Rowe | man from 81. thou QqFi | then F2F3F4. 

Anthonio Fi. 83. lights~on Qi | lights a Q2F1. 

80. what 's Qq | how much is Ff. 

63. I shall not fail to surpass my teachers in this matter of revenge. 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 73 

my shoulders ; no sighs but of my breathing ; no tear£ but 
of my shedding. 85 

Tubal. Yes, other men have ill luck too : Antonio, as I 
heard in Genoa, — 

Shylock. What, what, what? ill luck, ill luck? 88 

Tubal. Hath an argosy cast away, coming from Tripolis. 

Shylock. I thank God, I thank God ! — Is it true, is it true ? 

Tubal. I spoke with some of the sailors that escap'd 
the wreck. 92 

Shylock. I thank thee, good Tubal : good news, good 
news ! ha, ha ! — here in Genoa. 

Tubal. Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, in 
one night fourscore ducats. 96 

Shylock. Thou stick' st a dagger in me : I shall never see 
my gold again : fourscore ducats at a sitting ! fourscore ducats ! 

Tubal. There came divers of Antonio's creditors in my 
company to Venice, that swear he cannot choose but break. 

Shylock. I am very glad of it : I '11 plague him ; I '11 
torture him : I am glad of it. 102 

Tubal. One of them show'd me a ring that he had of 
your daughter for a monkey. 104 

Shylock. Out upon her ! Thou torturest me, Tubal : it 
was my turquoise ; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor : 
I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys. 

84-85. but of Qi I but a Q2F1. 95-96. in one Qi | one QaFf. 

90. is it ... is it Q-2Ff | ist . . . ist Qi. 106. turquoise Rowe | Turkies Qi 

94. here QqFf | where ? Rowe. Q2F1. 

94. For a defense of the Quarto and Folio reading, see Fumess. 

106. The turquoise was held precious for its rarity and beauty and 
for certain magical properties. It was supposed to have the power 
of reconciling man and wife, and of forewarning the wearer of danger. 
It was also thought to grow pale and dim if the wearer were ill. 



74 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi 

Tubal. But Antonio is certainly undone. 108 

Shylock. Nay, that 's true, that 's very true. Go, Tubal, 
fee me an officer; bespeak him a fortnight before. I will 
have the heart of him, if he forfeit; for, were he out of 
Venice, I can make what merchandise I will. Go, Tubal, 
and meet me at our synagogue; go, good Tubal; at our 
synagogue, Tubal. \Exeunf\ 

Scene' II. Belmont. A room in Portia's house 

Enter Bassanio, Portia, Gratiano, Nerissa, and Attendants 

Portia. I pray you, tarry ; pause a day or two 
Before you hazard ; for, in choosing wrong, 
I lose your company : therefore forbear awhile. 
There 's something tells me — but it is not love — 
I would not lose you ; and you know yourself, 5 

Hate counsels not in such a quality. 
But, lest you should not understand me well, — 
And yet a maiden hath no tongue but thought, — 
I would detain you here some month or two 
Before you venture for me. I could teach you 10 

How to choose right, but then I am forsworn ; 
So will I never be : so may you miss me ; 
But, if you do, you '11 make me wish a sin, 

ii2. I will. Go I I will : goe Q2F1 3. lose | loose QqFi. 

I I will go: go Qi I I will. Go, go 5. lose Q1F2F3F4 | loose Q2F1. 

Johnson Camb. 11. then I am Qj2Ff | I am then Qi. 

109-110. To fee an officer, or a lawyer, is to engage him by paying 
for his services in advance. Acceptance of such payment binds him. 

112. The editors of the Cambridge Shakespeare make Shylock 
say here, " Go, go, Tubal," following what, in spite of the careless 
punctuation, seems to be the reading of the First Quarto. 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 75 

That I had been forsworn. Beshrew your eyes, 

They have o'erlook'd me, and divided me ; 15 

One half of me is yours, the other half yours, — 

Mine own, I would say ; but if mine, then yours, 

And so all yours ! O, these naughty times 

Puts bars between the owners and their rights ! 

And so, though yours, not yours. Prove it so, 20 

Let fortune go to hell for it, not I. 

I speak too long; but 'tis to peize the time, 

To eke it, and to draw it out in length, 

To stay you from election. 

Bassanio. Let me choose ; 

For, as I am, I live upon the rack. 25 

Portia. Upon the rack, Bassanio ! then confess 
What treason there is mingled with your love. 

Bassanio. None but that ugly treason of mistrust, 
Which makes me fear the enjoying of my love : 
There may as well be amity and life . 3° 

'Tween snow and fire, as treason and my love. 

17. if Qq I of Fi I first F2F3F4. 23. eke Johnson | eck Qi | ich Fi. 

19. Puts. So Quartos and First Folio. See Abbott, § 333. 

20. Prove it so : should it prove so. If events should prove that 
I, who am yours in heart, am not to be yours in fact, let the punish- 
ment fall upon fortune for misdirecting your choice. 

22. peize : retard. An old form of ' poise,' through Fr. peiser 
(peser) from Lat. pensare. The figure here involved is that of load- 
ing a thing in motion to make it go more slowly. 

29. Shakespeare often has ' doubt ' for ' fear' or ' suspect ' ; here he 
has ' fear' in the sense of ' doubt.' Fear the not enjoying of my love. 

30. In previous editions of Hudson's Shakespeare, Walker's con- 
jectural reading of 'league' for 'life' was adopted, as 'life' was 
considered a strange word for the place and made still more unfitting 
by what Bassanio says in his next speech. 



76 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi 

Portia. Ay, but I fear you speak upon the rack, 
Where men enforced do speak anything. 

Bassanio. Promise me life, and I '11 confess the truth. 

Portia. Well then, confess and live. 

Bassanio. Confess and love 

Had been the very sum of my confession : 3 6 

O happy torment, when my torturer 
Doth teach me answers for deliverance ! 
But let me to my fortune and the caskets. 

Portia. Away, then ! I am lock'd in one of them : 40 
If you do love me, you will find me out. 
Nerissa, and the rest, stand all aloof. 
Let music sound while he doth make his choice ; 
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end, 
Fading in music : that the comparison 45 

May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream 
And watery death-bed for him. He may win; 
And what is music then? Then music is 
Even as the flourish when true subjects bow 

33. do Qq I doth Ft 

33. " It is pleasant to find Shakespeare before his age in denouncing 
the futility of this barbarous method of extorting truth. He was old 
enough to remember the case of Francis Throckmorton in 1584 ; and 
that of Squires in 1598 was fresh in his mind." — Clar. 

38. Doubtless many a poor man whose office it was to work the 
rack, and whose heart had not been burnt to a cinder by theological 
rancor, had pity on the victim, and whispered in his ear " answers 
for deliverance," prompting him to speak what might suffice for 
stopping the torture. 

44-47. The allusion is to the popular belief that the swan sang 
herself through the process of dying, ' fading (i.e. going out) in music' 
English poetry from Chaucer to Tennyson is full of exquisite refer- 
ences to this swan-lore. Cf. Othello, V, ii, 247 ; King John, V, vii, 21. 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 77 

To a new-crowned monarch : such it is 50 

As are those dulcet sounds in break of day 

That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's ear, 

And summon him to marriage. Now he goes, 

With no less presence, but with much more love, 

Than young Alcides, when he did redeem 55 

The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy 

To the sea-monster : I stand for sacrifice; 

The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives, 

With bleared visages, come forth to view 

The issue of the exploit. Go, Hercules ! 60 

Live thou, I live : with much much more dismay 

I view the fight than thou that mak'st the fray. 

Music, whilst Bassanio coi?iments on the caskets to himself 

Song 
Tell me where is fancy bred, 
Or in the heart or in the head ? 

61. live: with | live with QqFiF2. — much much Q2F2F3 | much Q1F1. 

50. At English coronations, the act of putting on the crown was 
signaled by a joyous nourish of trumpets ; whereupon the whole 
assembly were to bow their homage to the sovereign. 

54. presence : dignity of mien, nobility of bearing, deportment. 

57. The story, as told by Ovid, Metamorphoses, XI, is, that when 
Hesione, daughter of the Trojan king, was demanded by the sea- 
monster, and bound to a rock, Hercules slew the monster and deliv- 
ered her. Bassanio goes " with much more love," because Hercules 
went, not from love of the lady, but to gain the reward of beauti- 
ful horses offered by Laomedon. 

63. This song is very artfully conceived, and carries something 
enigmatical or riddle-like in its face, as if on purpose to suggest or 
hint darkly the way to the right choice. The clew, however, is such 
as to be seized only by a man whose heart is thoroughly right in the 



yS THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi 

How begot, how nourished ? 65 

Reply, reply. 

It is engender'd in the eyes, 

With gazing fed ; and fancy dies 

In the cradle where it lies. 

Let us all ring fancy's knell ; 70 

I '11 begin it, — Ding, dong, bell. 
All. Ding, dong, bell. 

Bassanio. So may the outward shows be least themselves : 
The world is still deceiv'd with ornament. 
In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt, . 75 

But, being season'd with a gracious voice, 
Obscures the show of evil? In religion, 

67. eyes Ff | eye Qq. 75. tainted QqF2 I tanted Fi. 

matter he goes about. ' Fancy,' as here used, means, apparently, 
that illusive power or action of the mind which has misled the other 
suitors, who, as Portia says, " have the wisdom by their wit to lose." 
And the illusion thus engendered in the eyes, and fed with gazing, 
dies just there where it is bred, as soon as it is brought to the test 
of experience by opening the wrong casket. The riddle evidently 
has some effect in starting Bassanio on the right track, by causing 
him to distrust such shows as catch the fancy or the eye, — the 
glitter of the gold and silver caskets. 

66. Reply, reply. In Quartos and Folios these words stand in the 
margin, to the right of 1. 65. This led to Hanmer's conjecture that 
4 Reply ' was a stage direction, and Johnson and Steevens printed it 
as such — an arrangement adopted in previous editions of Hudson's 
Shakespeare. Capell prefixed ' 1 V.' (i e. First Voice) to 11. 63, 64, 65, 
and ' 2 V.' to 11. 67, 68, 69, saying, " The words ' Reply, reply ' show 
it to be a song in two parts or by two voices, followed by a chorus 
of divers assistant voices which ' all ' indicates" The editors of the 
Cambridge Shakespeare say, " It is true that the words ' Reply, 
reply ' stand in the margin of the old copies, but they are printed 
like the song in italics, and seem to be required as part of it by the 
rhythm and (if we read ' eye ' with the Quartos) by the rhyme also." 



scene II THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 79 

What damned error, but some sober brow 

Will bless it, and approve it with a text, 

Hiding the grossness with fair ornament? 80 

There is no vice so simple, but assumes 

Some mark of virtue on his outward parts : 

How many cowards, whose hearts are all as false 

As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins 

The beards of Hercules and frowning Mars ; 85 

Who, inward search'd, have livers white as milk ! 

And these assume but valour's excrement 

To render them redoubted ! Look on beauty, 

And you shall see 't is purchas'd by the weight ; 

Which therein works a miracle in nature, 90 

81. vice F2F3F4 I voice Q1F1 1 84. stairs F4 I staiers Qi | stayers 

voyce Q2Q3. Q2F1Q3Q4 I stayres F2F3. 

84. stairs. In previous editions of Hudson's Shakespeare, the 
Folio reading 'stayers,' was adopted as a monosyllable in the sense 
of 'props,' 'supports,' 'stays.' 

^86. Cowards were commonly spoken of as having white livers. 
Shakespeare has ' lily-liver'd ' and ' milk-liver'd ' in the same sense ; 
and Falstaff, 2 Henry IV, iv, iii, 110-114, instructs us that "The 
second' property of your excellent sherris is the warming of the 
blood ; which, before cold and settled, left the liver white and pale, 
which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice." 

87. excrement. This word, from Lat. excresco, is used for every- 
thing which appears to grow or vegetate upon the human body, as 
the hair, the beard, the nails. This is another illustration of the rule 
that Shakespeare uses many words of Latin derivation in a sense 
close to the original. See note, p. 7, 1. 61. 

89. The meaning here is not very obvious ; but the words are 
probably to be construed in the light of what follows. It would 
seem that false hair, " the golden tresses of the dead," was pur- 
chased at so much an ounce ; and the more one had of it, the vainer 
— the more frivolous or wanton — one was. 



80 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act in 

Making them lightest that wear most of it : 

So are those crisped snaky golden locks, 

Which makes such wanton gambols with the wind, 

Upon supposed fairness, often known 

To be the dowry of a second head, • 95 

The skull that bred them in the sepulchre. 

Thus ornament is but the guiled shore 

To a most dangerous sea ; the beauteous scarf 

Veiling an Indian beauty ; in a word, 

93. makes Ff | maketh Q1Q2. 99. an Indian beauty QqF2F3 I an 
97. guiled QqFi | guilded F2F3F4 Indian beautie Fi | Indian; beauty's 

I gilded Rowe. Theobald's conjecture. 

91. Another quibble upon ' light.' See note, p. 55, 1. 42. Here, 
however, it is between ' light ' as opposed to ' heavy,' and ' light ' in 
the sense of 'frivolous' or 'wanton.' 

94. Upon supposed fairness : worn by fictitious beauty. 

95. Shakespeare expresses a very strong dislike of the custom 
of .wearing false hair, introduced into England early in Elizabeth's 
reign and very popular among the women of fashion. Cf. Love's 
Labotir 's Lost, IV, iii, 258 ; Timon of Athens, IV, iii, 144. In Sonnets, 
lxviii, is a 'passage very like that in the text: 

Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn, 
When beauty lived and died as flowers do now, 



Before the golden tresses of the dead, 
The right of sepulchres, were shorn away, 
To live a second life on second head ; 
Ere beauty's dead fleece made another gay. 

96. The skull being in the sepulchre. Ablative absolute. 

99. an Indian beauty. This is a famous Shakespeare crux. Up- 
wards of twenty word-substitutes for < beauty ' have been suggested. 
See Furness. In previous editions of Hudson's Shakespeare 'feature ' 
was the reading adopted. But, as it stands, the reading of Quartos 
and Folios is perfectly intelligible, ' an Indian beauty ' being simply 
one that standards of civilization and refinement would regard as no 
beauty at all. 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 8l 

The seeming truth which cunning times put on ioo 

To entrap the wisest. Therefore, thou gaudy gold, 
Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee; 
Nor none of thee, thou pale and common drudge 
'Tween man and man : but thou, thou meagre lead, 
Which rather threatenest than dost promise aught, 105 

Thy paleness moves me more than eloquence; 
And here choose I : joy be the consequence ! 

Portia. [Aside] How all the other passions fleet to air, 
As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embrac'd despair, 
And shuddering fear, and green-eyed jealousy ! no 

love, be moderate ; allay thy ecstasy ; 

In measure rain thy joy ; scant this excess ! 

1 feel too much thy blessing : make it less, 
For fear I surfeit ! 

Bassanio. What find I here ? 

[ Opening the leaden casket] 
Fair Portia's counterfeit ! What demi-god 115 

Hath come so near creation? Move these eyes? 

101. Therefore Q1F2F3 I therefore 106. paleness QqFf | plainness 
then Q2F1. Warburton Theobald. 

102. food Q2Ff I foole Qi. 112. rain F3F4 I reine Q3Q4 I 

105. aught Theobald | ought QqFf. range Qi | raine Q2F1F2. 

102. Midas, king of Phrygia, asked of Dionysus (Bacchus) that 
whatever he touched might be turned into gold. The request being 
granted, and all his food turning to gold as it touched his lips, he 
implored Dionysus to revoke the favor. See Ovid, Metamorphoses, XL 

106. paleness. This — the reading of Quartos and Folios — War- 
burton changed to ' plainness,' which Staunton adopted with the 
remark that the ' plainness ' which moves Bassanio ' more than elo- 
quence ' is the plain speaking of the inscription on the leaden coffer, 
contrasted with the tempting labels of its neighbors. 

115. counterfeit: portrait. Cf. Timou of Athens, V, i, 83. 



82 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi 

Or whether, riding on the balls of mine, 

Seem they in motion? Here are sever'd lips, 

Parted with sugar breath : so sweet a bar 

Should sunder such sweet friends. Here in her hairs 120 

The painter plays the spider, and hath woven 

A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men, 

Faster than gnats in cobwebs. But her eyes ! — 

How could he see to do them? having made one, 

Methinks it should have power to steal both his 125 

And leave itself unfurnish'd. Yet look, how far 

The substance of my praise doth wrong this shadow 

In underprizing it, so far this shadow 

Doth limp behind the substance. Here 's the scroll, 

The continent and summary of my fortune : 130 

[Reads'] You that choose not by the view, 

Chance as fair, and choose as true ! 

Since this fortune falls to you, 

Be content, and seek no new. 

If you be well pleas'd with this, 135 

And hold your fortune for your bliss, 

Turn you where your lady is, 

And claim her with a loving kiss. 

A gentle scroll. — Fair lady, by your leave ; 

I come by note, to give and to receive. 140 

117. whether Ff | whither Q1Q2. 126. unfurnish'd QqFf | unfinish'd 

122. to entrap 1 1' intrap QiFf. Rowe. 

126. unfurnish'd: unmated. InZfaw/^/,V,ii,i5o,occurs'unfellowed.' 
130. continent: that which contains. The literal meaning of the Latin. 

139. Here Rowe introduced stage direction ' Kissing her.' 

140. I come in accordance with the written direction to give a 
kiss and to receive the lady. — note. Cf . The Winter's Tale, IV, iii, 49. 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 83 

Like one of two contending in a prize, 

That thinks he hath done well in people's eyes, 

Hearing applause and universal shout, 

Giddy in spirit, still gazing, in a doubt 

Whether those peals of praise be his or no ; 145 

So, thrice-fair lady, stand I, even so ; 

As doubtful whether what I see be true, 

Until confirm'd, sign'd, ratified by you. 

Portia. You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand, 
Such as I am : though for myself alone 150 

I would not be ambitious in my wish, 
To wish myself much better ; yet for you 
I would be trebled twenty times myself ; 
A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times more rich ; 
That, only to stand high in your account, 155 

I might in virtues, beauties, livings, friends, 
Exceed account : but the full sum of me 
Is sum of — something ; which, to term in gross, 
Is an unlesson'd girl, unschool'd, unpractis'd : 
Happy in this, she is not yet so old . 160 

But she may learn ; happier than this, 
She is not bred so dull but she can learn ; 

145. peals Q2Ff | pearles Qi. 158. something Qq I nothing Ff. 

149. see me, Lord Qq | see my 161. happier than this Camb | 

Lord F1F2F3 I see, my Lord F4. happier then this QqFi | happier then 

154. more rich | Camb prints as in this F2F3F4 I more happy then in 

separate line | in QqFf part of 1. 155. this Pope. 

158. The dash before ' something ' indicates that Portia hesitates 
for a term with which to describe herself modestly, yet without any 
affectation of modesty. The Folio reading ' nothing ' savors too 
much of affectation of humility to accord well with Portia's char- 
acter. Besides, she seems to be playing with the likeness of sound 
in ' sum' and ' some.' — term in gross : define generally. 



84 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi 

Happiest of all is that her gentle spirit 

Commits itself to yours to be directed, 

As from her lord, her governor, her king. 165 

Myself and what is mine to you and yours 

Is now converted : but now I was the lord 

Of this fair mansion, master of my servants, 

Queen o'er myself ; and even now, but now, 

This house, these servants, and this same myself, 170 

Are yours, my lord : I give them with this ring ; 

Which when you part from, lose, or give away, 

Let it presage the ruin of your love, 

And be my vantage to exclaim on you. 

Bassanio. Madam, you have bereft me of all words ; 175 
Only my blood speaks to you in my veins ; 
And there is such confusion in my powers, 
As, after some oration fairly spoke 
By a beloved prince, there doth appear 
Among the buzzing pleased multitude ; 180 

Where every something, being blent together, 
Turns to a wild of nothing, save of joy, 
Express'd and not express'd. But when this ring 
Parts from this finger, then parts life from hence : 
O, then be bold to say Bassanio 's dead ! 185 

Nerissa. My lord and lady, it is now our time, 
That have stood by and seen our wishes prosper, 
To cry, good joy. Good joy, my Lord and lady ! 

Gratiano. My Lord Bassanio and my gentle lady, 

I wish you all the joy that you can wish ; 190 

% 

167. The ' lord ' of a thing is, properly, the owner of it ; hence the 
word is applicable to a woman as well as to a man. 

174. vantage: opportunity. — : exclaim on: reproach loudly. 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 85 

For I am sure you can wish none from me. 
And, when your honours mean to solemnize 
The bargain of your faith, I do beseech you, 
Even at that time I may be married too. 194 

. Bassanio. With all my heart, so thou canst get a wife. 

Gratiano. I thank your lordship, you have got me one. 
My eyes, my lord, can look as swift as yours : 
You saw the mistress, I beheld the maid ; 
You lov'd, I lov'd ; for intermission 

No more pertains to me, my lord, than you. 200 

Your fortune stood upon the caskets there, 
And so did mine too, as the matter falls ; 
For, wooing here, until I sweat again, 
And swearing, till my very roof was dry 
With oaths of love, at last, if promise last, 205 

I got a promise of this fair one here 

196. have QqF2F3F4 I gave Fi. 201. caskets Q2Ff | casket Q1Q3 

199. lov'd; for intermission No Q4. 
more Theobald | lov'd for intermis- 203. here Pope I heere QqFi | 

sion, No more Q1Q2F1F2F3 I loved heete Fa I heat F3F4 I herd Rowe 

for intermission. No more Camb. (1 ed.) her Rowe (2 ed.). 

191. You have so much joy in each other, that you cannot grudge 
any to me. This is Johnson's interpretation. Abbott suggests : " none 
which I do not wish you," § 158. 

198. We are not to understand by this that Nerissa is merely a 
servant-maid to Portia : she holds the place of companion or friend, 
and Portia all along treats her as such. They are as nearly equals in 
rank as Bassanio and Gratiano are, who are a pair of friends, not 
master and servant. Nor does it conflict with this, that Gratiano 
speaks of Portia as " her mistress " ; for he is in a position that 
requires him to plead his present cause with a good deal of modesty 
and deference, lest he should seem to have abused his privilege of 
accompanying Bassanio on this loving voyage. 

199. intermission : delay. Gratiano means, apparently, that, follow- 
ing his example, he had been as prompt to fall in love as Bassanio. 



86 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi 

To have her love, provided that your fortune 
Achiev'd her mistress. 

Portia. Is this true, Nerissa? 

Nerissa. Madam, it is, so you stand pleas'd withal. 

Bassanio. And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith? 210 

Gratiano. Yes, faith, my lord. 

Bassanio. Our feast shall be much honour'd in your 
marriage. 

Gratiano. But who comes here ? Lorenzo and his infidel ? 
What, and my old Venetian friend, Salerio? 

Enter Lorenzo, Jessica, and Salerio 

Bassanio. Lorenzo and Salerio, welcome hither; 215 
If that the youth of my new interest here 

209. it is, so you Qq | it is so, so you Ff. 214. Scene III Pope. 

214. Salerio. Is this a new character, or is the name simply a. mis- 
spelling for Salarino or Salanio ? Rowe held that the Salerio of the 
Quartos and Folios was a misprint for Salanio, and he substituted 
the one name for the other wherever it occurred. Capell restored 
Salerio in the text, though he believed it to be an abbreviation of 
Salerino, or, as it is printed in the present text, Salarino. Steevens 
was the first to add Salerio to the list of Dramatis Persona? as a 
character distinct from Salanio and Salarino. A good case can be 
made out for this Salerio being but the Salanio who appears in the 
first scene of the play as the common friend of Antonio, Bassanio, and 
Salarino. It is easy to see how the mistake might arise, for the similar 
names, Salanio and Salarino, are spelled in Quartos and Folios in 
nine different ways, and the various abbreviations of the names add 
to the confusion and complication. On the other hand, in both Quar- 
tos and Folios the name Salerio is spelled in full every time it occurs ; 
and is not the whimsicality in introducing here a third character 
whose name begins with ' Sal- ' thoroughly Shakespearian and in 
keeping with the dramatist's delight in word quibble and equivoque ? 
There are two Jaqueses in the Dramatis Persortae of As You Like It. 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 87 

Have power to bid you welcome. — By your leave, 
I bid my very friends and countrymen, 
Sweet Portia, welcome. 

Portia. So do I, my lord ; 

They are entirely welcome. 220 

Lorenzo. I thank your honour. — For my part, my lord, 
My purpose was not to have seen you here; 
But, meeting with Salerio by the way, 
He did entreat me, past all saying nay, 
To come with him along. 

Salerio. I did, my lord ; 225 

And I have reason for it. Signior Antonio 
Commends him to you. [ Gives Bassanio a letter] 

Bassanio. Ere I ope his letter, 

I pray you, tell me how my good friend doth. 

Salerio. Not sick, my lord, unless it be in mind ; 
Nor well, unless in mind : his letter there 230 

Will show you his estate. 

Gratiano. Nerissa, cheer yon stranger; bid her welcome. — 
Your hand, Salerio : what 's the news from Venice? 
How doth that royal merchant, good Antonio ? 
I know he will be glad of our success ; 235 

We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece. 

Salerio. I would you had won the fleece that he hath lost ! 

Portia. There are some shrewd contents in yon same 
paper, 
That steals the colour from Bassanio' s cheek : 
Some dear friend dead ; else nothing in the world 240 

234. royal merchant. See note, p. 102, 1. 29. 

236. Cf. Marlowe, The Jew of Malta, IV, iv, 99. 

238. shrewd : evil. Properly p. part, of skrewen, ' to curse.' 



88 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi 

Could turn so much the constitution 

Of any constant man. What, worse and worse ! — 

With leave, Bassanio ; I am half yourself, 

And I must freely have the half of anything 

That this same paper brings you. 

Bassanio. O sweet Portia, 245 

Here are a few of the unpleasant'st words 
That ever blotted paper ! Gentle lady, 
When I did first impart my love to you, 
I freely told you, all the wealth I had 

Ran in my veins, — I was a gentleman ; 250 

And then I told you true : and yet, dear lady, 
Rating myself at nothing, you shall see 
How much I was a braggart. When I told you 
My state was nothing, I should then have told you 
That I was worse than nothing ; for, indeed, 255 

I have engag'd myself to a dear friend 
Engag'd my friend to his mere enemy, 
To feed my means. Here is a letter, lady; 
The paper as the body of my friend, 

And every word in it a gaping wound, 260 

Issuing life-blood. — But is it true, Salerio? 
Hath all his ventures fail'd? What, not one hit? 
From Tripolis, from Mexico, and England, 
From Lisbon, Barbary, and India? 

253. braggart QqFiF2F3 | beggar F4. 262. Hath QqFf | have Pope. 

244. Pope omitted ' freely ' in this line, regarding it as redundancy. 
As the word ' freely ' occurs five lines after, it was thought to have 
crept in here out of place by a compositor's slip. 

246. unpleasant'st. "Est in superlatives is often pronounced st 
after dentals and liquids." See Abbott, § 473. 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 89 

And not one vessel scape the dreadful touch 265 

Of merchant-marring rocks? 

Salerio. Not one, my lord. 

Besides, it should appear that, if he had 
The present money to discharge the Jew, 
He would not take it. Never did I know 
A creature, that did bear the shape of man, 270 

So keen and greedy to confound a man : 
He plies the Duke at morning and at night ; 
And doth impeach the freedom of the state, 
If they deny him justice : twenty merchants, 
The Duke himself, and the magnificoes 275 

Of greatest port, have all persuaded with him ; 
But none can drive him from the envious plea 
Of forfeiture, of justice, and his bond. 

Jessica. When I was with him, I have heard him swear, 
To Tubal and to Chus, his countrymen, 280 

That he would rather have Antonio's flesh 
Than twenty times the value of the sum 
That he did owe him : and I know, my lord, 
If law, authority, and power deny not, 
It will go hard with poor Antonio. 285 

Portia. Is it your dear friend that is thus in trouble ? 

Bassanio. The dearest friend to me, the kindest man, 
The best-condition' d and unwearied spirit 
In doing courtesies ; and one in whom 

273. impeach the freedom : call in question the reputation of the 
state for granting equal rights to every one. Cf. IV, i, 39. 

288. unwearied. For ellipsis of superlative inflection, see Abbott, 
§ 398. See note, p. 35, 1. 46. So we have in Sonnets, lxxx, 6 : 

The humble as the proudest sail doth bear. 



90 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi 

The ancient Roman honour more appears 290 

Than any that draws breath in Italy. 

Portia. What sum owes he the Jew? 

Bassanio. For me three thousand ducats. 

Portia. What, no more? 

Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond; 
Double six thousand, and then treble that, 295 

Before a friend of this description 
Shall lose a hair through Bassanio's fault. 
First go with me to church and call me wife, 
And then away to Venice to your friend ; 
For never shall you lie by Portia's side 3 00 

With an unquiet soul. You shall have gold 
To pay the petty debt twenty times over : 
When it is paid, bring your true friend along. 
My maid Nerissa and myself meantime 
Will live as maids and widows. Come, away ! 305 

For you shall hence upon your wedding-day : 
Bid your friends welcome, show a merry cheer : 
Since you are dear bought, I will love you dear. 
But let me hear the letter of your friend. 3°9 

Bassanio. [Reads'] 

Sweet Bassanio, my ships have all miscarried, my creditors 
grow cruel, my estate is very low, my bond to the Jew is for- 
feit ; and since in paying it, it is impossible I should live, all 
debts are cleared between you and I, if I might but see you 

293. What, no more Ff | in Qq part 297. through QqFi | through my 

of 1. 294. F2F3F4. 

296. thisQqFf | his S. Walker conj. 313. but see Qq | see Ff. 

307. cheer : countenance. Middle English chere from Low Lat. cara. 

313. between you and I. In Jespersen's Progress in Langzmge this 

usage, common in Elizabethan literature, is explained thus : "/ was 



scene in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 91 

at my death. Notwithstanding, use your pleasure ; if your love 
do not persuade you to come, let not my letter. 315 

Portia. O love, dispatch all business, and be gone ! 
Bassanio. Since I have your good leave to go away, 

I will make haste; but, till I come again, 
No bed shall e'er be guilty of my stay, 3 X 9 

Nor rest be interposer 'twixt us twain. [_Exeunf\ 

Scene III. Venice. A street 
En ter Shylock, Salarino, Antonio, and Jailer 

Shylock. Jailer, look to him : tell not me of mercy. — 
This is the fool that lends out money gratis. — 
Jailer, look to him. 

Antonio. Hear me yet, good Shylock. 

Shylock. I '11 have my bond ; speak not against my bond : 
I have sworn an oath that I will have^ my bond. 5 

Thou call'dst me dog before thou hadst a cause ; 
But, since I am a dog, beware my fangs : 
The Duke shall grant me justice. — I do wonder, 
Thou naughty jailer, that thou art so fond 
To come abroad with him at his request. 10 

Antonio. I pray thee, hear me speak. 

320. Nor Cj2Ff I No Qi. Salarino Qi | Solanio Fi | Salerio Q2. 

Scene III | Scene IV Pope. 2. lends Ff | lent Qq. 

preferred to me after and, because the group of words you and I, 
he and I, etc., in which this particular word-order was required by 
common politeness, would occur in every-day speech so frequently 
as to make it practically a kind of stock-phrase taken as a whole, 
the last word of which was therefore not inflected." 

9. naughty: wicked. Cf. King Lear, III, vii, 37. — fond: foolish. 



92 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi 

Shylock. I '11 have my bond ; I will not hear thee speak : 
I '11 have my bond ; and therefore speak no more. 
I '11 not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool, 
To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield 15 

To Christian intercessors. Follow not ; 
I '11 have no speaking : I will have my bond. \_Exit\ 

Salarino. It is the most impenetrable cur 
That ever kept with men. 

Antonio. Let him alone : 

I '11 follow him no more with bootless prayers. 20 

He seeks my life; his reason well I know : 
I oft deliver'd from his forfeitures 
Many that have at times made moan to me ; 
Therefore he hates me. 

Salarino. I am sure the Duke 

Will never grant this forfeiture to hold. 25 

Antonio. The Duke cannot deny the course of law : 
For the commodity that strangers have 
With us in Venice, if it be denied, 
Will much impeach the justice of the state ; 

24-25. Printed as prose in F2F3F4. 29. the state Q2F1 | his state Qi. 

19. kept: dwelt. So in Measure for Measure, III, i, 10. 
27. commodity : commercial privileges. 

26-29. In previous editions of Hudson's Shakespeare, the Capell 
reading and punctuation were adopted here : 

The Duke cannot deny the course of law, 

For the commodity that strangers have 

With us in Venice : if it be denied, 

'T will much impeach the justice of the State. . . . 

Here ' for ' would mean ' because of.' 

Antonio was one of the citizens, while Shylock was reckoned 
among the strangers of the place. And, since the city was benefited 



scene iv THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 93 

Since that the trade and profit of the city 3° 

Consisteth of all nations. Therefore, go : 

These griefs and losses have so bated me, 

That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh 

To-morrow to my bloody creditor. — 

Well, jailer, on. — Pray God, Bassanio come 35 

To see me pay his debt, and then I care not ! \_Exeunf\ 



Scene IV. Belmont. A room in Portia's house 
Enter Portia, Nerissa, Lorenzo, Jessica, and Balthasar 

Lorenzo. Madam, although I speak it in your presence, 
You have a noble and a true conceit 
Of god-like amity ; which appears most strongly 
In bearing thus the absence of your lord. 
But, if you knew to whom you show this honour, 5 

How true a gentleman you send relief, 
How dear a lover of my lord your husband, 
I know you would be prouder of the work 
Than customary bounty can enforce you. 

Portia. I never did repent for doing good, 10 

Nor shall not now : for in companions 

Scene IV Rowe [ Scene V Pope. Balthasar | a man of Portia's QqFf. 

as much by the trade of foreigners as of natives, justice required the 
law to give equal advantages to both. But to stop the course of 
law in behalf of citizens against strangers would clearly impeach the 
justice of the state. 

32. bated: lowered, reduced. Cf. IV, i, 71. 

6. gentleman. The dative case. Modern English allows such a dative 
(without ' to ') only when it comes between the verb and its accusative. 

7. lover : friend. So in Coriolanus, V, ii, 14. 



94 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi 

That do converse and waste the time together, 

Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love, 

There must be needs a like proportion 

Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit; 15 

Which makes me think that this Antonio, 

Being the bosom lover of my lord, 

Must needs be like my lord. If it be so, 

How little is the cost I have bestow'd 

In purchasing the semblance of my soul 20 

From out the state of hellish cruelty ! 

This comes too near the praising of myself ; 

Therefore no more of it : hear other things. 

Lorenzo, I commit into your hands 

The husbandry and manage of my house 25 

Until my lord's return : for mine own part, 

I have toward heaven breath'd a secret vow 

To live in prayer and contemplation, 

Only attended by Nerissa here, 

Until her husband and my lord's return : 30 

There is a monastery two miles off, 

And there we will abide. I do desire you 

Not to deny this imposition, 

The which my love and some necessity 

Now lays upon you. 

Lorenzo. Madam, with all my heart, 35 

I shall obey you in all fair commands. 

Portia. My people do already know my mind, 

13. equal Qi I egall Q2 I egal F1F2. heere other things QqFiF2 I here 

ax. cruelty Q2F1 | misery Qi. other things, F3F4. 

23. hear other things. Theobald | 32. we will Q2Ff | will we Qi, 

25. husbandry : stewardship. — manage : management. 



scene iv THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 95 

And will acknowledge you and Jessica 
In place of Lord Bassanio and myself. 
So fare you well, till we shall meet again. 40 

Lorenzo. Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you ! 

Jessica. I wish your ladyship all heart's content. 

Portia. I thank you for your wish, and am well pleas'd 
To wish it back on you : fare you well, Jessica. — 

\_Exennt Jessica and Lorenzo] 
Now, Balthasar, 45 

As I have ever found thee honest-true, 
So let me find thee still. Take this same letter, 
And use thou all the endeavour of a man 
In speed to Padua : see thou render this 
Into my cousin's hand, Doctor Bellario ; 5° 

And, look, what notes and garments he doth give thee, 
Bring them, I pray thee, with imagin'd speed 
Unto the tranect, to the common ferry 
Which trades to Venice. Waste no time in words, 
But get thee gone : I shall be there before thee. 55 

Balthasar. Madam, I go with all convenient speed. \Exif] 

Portia. Come on, Nerissa ; I have work in hand 
That you yet know not of : we '11 see our husbands 
Before they think of us. 

Nerissa. Shall they see us? 

40. So fare you well F2F3F4Q3Q4 45-46. Printed as one line in QqFf . 

I So far you'well Q2F1 | And so fare- 49. Padua Theobald | Mantua Qq 

well Qi. Ff. 

52. imagin'd speed : with the celerity of imagination. So in the 
Chorus before Henry V, Act III : " Thus with imagined wing our 
swift scene flies." So Steevens interprets. Abbott, § 375, takes 
' imagined ' as meaning ' imaginable.' 

• 53. tranect. Most probably this much-discussed word is but a 
misprint, for 'traject' (crossing, ferry). Cf. Ital. traghetto (tragetto). 



g6 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act in 

Portia. They shall, Nerissa ; but in such a habit, 60 
That they shall think we are accomplished 
With that we lack. I '11 hold thee any wager, 
When we are both accoutred like young men, 
I '11 prove the prettier fellow of the two, 
Arid wear my dagger with the braver grace ; 65 

And speak between the change of man and boy 
With a reed voice ; and turn two mincing steps 
Into a manly stride ; and speak of frays, 
Like a fine-bragging youth ; and tell quaint lies, 
How honourable ladies sought my love, 70 

Which I denying, they fell sick and died; 
I could not do withal : then I '11 repent, 
And wish, for all that, that I had not kill'd them. 
And twenty of these puny lies I '11 tell ; 
That men shall swear I have discontinued school 75 

Above a twelvemonth. I have within my mind 
A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks, 
Which I will practise. 

But come ; I '11 tell thee all my whole device 
When I am in my coach, which stays for us 80 

At the park gate ; and therefore haste away, 
For we must measure twenty miles to-day. \_Exeunf\ 

62. that QqFf | what Rowe 63. accoutred | accoutered QzFi | 

(2 ed.). apparreld Qi. 

72. I could not do withal : I could not help it. A phrase of the 
time. "In Florio's Giar ditto di Ricreatione (1591) the Italian '7o 
non safirei farci altro ' is rendered into English ' I cannot doo with 
all.' " — Camb. So in Fletcher and Massinger's (?) The Little French 
Lawyer : " I cannot do withal ; I have spoke and spoke ; I am 
betrayed and lost too." 

77. Jacks : saucy fellows. An Elizabethan term of contempt. 



scene v THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 97 



<f& 



cene V. The same. A garden 
Enter Launcelot and Jessica 

Launcelot. Yes, truly; for, look you, the sins of the 
father are to be laid upon the children : therefore, I promise 
ye, I fear you. I was always plain with you, and so now I 
speak my agitation of the matter : therefore be of good 
cheer ; for, truly, I think you are damn'd. There is but 
one hope in it that can do you any good ; and that is but a 
kind of bastard hope neither. 7 

Jessica. And what hope is that, I pray thee? 

Launcelot. Marry, you may partly hope that you are 
not the Jew's daughter. 

Jessica. That were a kind of bastard hope, indeed : so 
the sins of my mother should be visited upon me. 12 

Launcelot. Truly then I fear you are damn'd both by 
father and mother : thus when I shun Scylla, your father, 
I fall into Charybdis, your mother : well, you are gone 
both ways. 16 

Scene V | Scene VI Pope. 3. ye Qi | you Q2FL 

Launcelot Rowe | Clowne Ff. 4. be of Ff | be a Q1Q2. 

3. fear: fear for. So in 1. 28. Cf. Richard III, I, i, 137. 

14-15. This refers to a proverbial saying which has been traced 
back as far as to St. Augustine: "Ne iterum quasi fugiens Charyb- 
dim, in Scyllam incurras." Malone quotes in this connection a line 
in the Alexandreis of Philippe Gualtier (Gaultier), the thirteenth 
century poet : "Incidis in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim." This 
became a common proverb, both in the original Latin and in 
English versions. For example, in Roger Ascham's Scholemaster we 
find : " If Scylla drown him not, Charybdis may fortune to swallow 
him." Halliwell quotes an old Somersetshire proverb to the same 
purpose : " He got out of the muxy and fell into the pucksy." 



98 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi 

Jessica. I shall be sav'd by my husband ; he hath made 
me a Christian. 18 

Launcelot. Truly, the more to blame he : we were 
Christians enow before ; e'en as many as could well live, 
one by another. This making of Christians will raise the 
price of hogs : if we grow all to be pork-eaters, we shall 
not shortly have a rasher on the coals for money. 23 

Jessica. I '11 tell my husband, Launcelot, what you say : 
here he comes. 

Enter Lorenzo 

Lorenzo. I shall grow jealous of you shortly, Launcelot, 
if you thus get my wife into corners. 27 

Jessica. Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo : Launcelot 
and I are out. He tells me flatly, there is no mercy for me 
in heaven, because I am a Jew's daughter : and he says, you 
are no good member of the commonwealth ; for, in convert- 
ing Jews to Christians, you raise the price of pork. 32 

Lorenzo. I think the best grace of wit will shortly turn 
into silence, and discourse grow commendable in none only 
but parrots. — Go in, sirrah ; bid them prepare for dinner. 

Launcelot. That is done, sir ; they have all stomachs. 

Lorenzo. Goodly Lord, what a wit- snapper are you ! 
then bid them prepare dinner. 3 8 

Launcelot. That is done too, sir; only, 'cover' is the 
word. 

Lorenzo. Will you cover, then, sir? 

Launcelot. Not so, sir, neither ; I know my duty. 42 

20. enow. A dialect form, but often used as the plural of ' enough.' 
39. Launcelot is playing upon the word ' cover,' which was used 
both for setting the table and for putting on the hat. 



scene v THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 99 

Lorenzo. Yet more quarrelling with occasion ! Wilt thou 
show the whole wealth of thy wit in an instant ? I pray thee, 
understand a plain man in his plain meaning : go to thy 
fellows, bid them cover the table, serve in the meat, and 
we will come in to dinner. 47 

Launcelot. For the table, sir, it shall be serv'd in ; for the 
meat, sir, it shall be cover'd \ for your coming in to dinner, sir, 
why, let it be as humours and conceits shall govern. [Exit] 

Lorenzo. O dear discretion, how his words are suited ! 
The fool hath planted in his memory 5 2 

An army of good words ; and I do know 
A many fools, that stand in better place, 
Garnish 'd like him, that for a tricksy word 55 

Defy the matter. — How cheer'st thou, Jessica? 
And now, good sweet, say thy opinion : 
How dost thou like the Lord Bassanio's wife? 

Jessica. Past all expressing. It is very meet 
The Lord Bassanio live an upright life ; 60 

For, having such a blessing in his lady, 
He finds the joys of heaven here on earth ; 

56. cheer'st FfQ3£>4 I cherst Q2 I far'st Qi. 

43. quarrelling with occasion. " At odds with the matter in question." 
— Schmidt. Launcelot's punning is irrelevant to the matter in hand. 

56.' Defy the matter : se 4 - the meaning at defiance. ' To defy ' was 
often used for ' to renounce,' ' to forsake,' or ' to give up.' So in 
1 Henry IV, I, iii, 228 : 

All studies here I solemnly defy, 

Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke. 

Shakespeare seems to have reference to the habit, which infected 
all classes in the last decade of the sixteenth century, of sacri- 
ficing matter, or letting it go, in fondness for verbal trickery and 
chase after puns and plays upon words. — cheer'st : farest. 



100 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi 

And if on earth he do not mean it, then 

In reason he should never come to heaven. 

Why, if two gods should play some heavenly match, 65 

And on the wager lay two earthly women, 

And Portia one, there must be something else 

Pawn'd with the other ; for the poor rude world 

Hath not her fellow. 

Lorenzo. Even such a husband 

Hast thou of me as she is for a wife. 7° 

Jessica. Nay, but ask my opinion too of that. 

Lorenzo. I will anon : first, let us go to dinner. 

Jessica. Nay, let me praise you while I have a stomach. 

Lorenzo. No, pray thee, let it serve for table-talk ; 
Then, howsoe'er thou speak'st, 'mong other things 75 

I shall digest it. 

Jessica. Well, I '11 set you forth. {Exeunt\ 

63-64. mean it, then In | meane | mean it, it Is Ff | meane it, In 
it, then In Qi | meane it, it In Q2 Q3Q4 I merit it, In Pope. 

63-64. Another famous crtix. In previous editions of Hudson's 
Shakespeare Pope's emendation was adopted, 'it' being supposed 
to have reference to 'blessing' in 1. 61. The reading in the text is 
that of the First Quarto. Many explanations and at least twelve 
text emendations have been offered. Capell explained ' mean it ' by 
' observe moderation,' and Furness and Corson interpret it in the 
same way. But is this not going too far afield ? Shakespeare never 
uses 'mean' in this sense as a verb. Does not Jessica say simply 
and poetically that Bassanio, having the joys of heaven here on earth 
in his possession of Portia, ought to lead almost as upright a life as 
he would were he in heaven ? If not, he ought never to get to heaven. 
Then she goes on to tell of the heavenly qualities of Portia. 

64. come to heaven. Cf. Lorenzo's words, II, iv, ^3- 

68. pawn'd: wagered. Cf. Coriolanus, III, i, 15. 

73. An equivoque on ' stomach,' which means ' disposition ' or 
' inclination,' as well as appetite for food. 



ACT IV 

Scene I. Venice. A court of justice 

Enter the Duke, the Magnificoes, Antonio, Bassanio, 
Gratiano, Salerio, and others 

Duke. What, is Antonio here? 

Antonio. Ready, so please your Grace. 

Duke. I am sorry for thee : thou art come to answer 
A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch 
Uncapable of pity, void and empty 5 

From any dram of mercy. 

Antonio. I have heard 

Your Grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify 
His rigorous course ; but, since he stands obdurate, 
And that no lawful means can carry me 
Out of his envy's reach, I do oppose 10 

My patience to his fury; and am-arm'd 
To suffer, with a quietness of spirit, 
The very tyranny and rage of his. 

Duke. Go one, and call the Jew into the court. 14 

Salerio. He is ready at the door : he comes, my lord. 

7-8. Printed as three lines in Qi. 15. Salerio Q2Q3Q4 I Sal. QiFf. 

1. What. An exclamation of attention, not surprise. Cf. "Hwaet!" 
in the opening line of Beowulf. Cf. 11. 46, no. 

9. that: because. See Abbott, § 285. 

10. envy's : malice's. So 'envious' in the sense of 'malicious' in 
III, ii, 277. Cf. Romeo and Juliet, III, i, 173. 

IOT 



102 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv 

Enter Shylock 

Duke. Make room, and let him stand before our face. — 
Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too, 
That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice 
To the last hour of act; and then 'tis thought 
Thou 'It show thy mercy and remorse, more strange 20 

Than is thy strange apparent cruelty ; 
And where thou now exact'st the penalty, 
Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh, 
Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture, 
But, touch'd with human gentleness and love, 25 

Forgive a moiety of the principal ; 
Glancing an eye of pity on his losses, 
That have of late so huddled on his back, 
Enow to press a royal merchant down, 
And pluck commiseration of his state 30 

From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint, 

25. human Rowe | humane QiFf. 31. flint Qi | flints Q2F1. 

18-21. Keepest up this manner or appearance of malice to the 
latest minute, and then thou wilt show pity. 
20. remorse : pity. So in Macbeth, I, v, 45. 

26. moiety. This word is used fifteen times by Shakespeare ; 
never in the etymological sense of ' a half ' (Lat. medietas, Fr. moitie), 
but always as it is used here, signifying ' a portion,' unless it may be 
held to mean ' a third ' in 1 Henry IV, III, i, 96. 

29. royal merchant. A complimentary phrase, to indicate the 
wealth and social standing of Antonio. In Shakespeare's time, Sir 
Thomas Gresham was so called, from his great wealth and from his 
close financial relations with the court and the queen. The term 
was also applied to great Italian merchants, such as the Giustiniani 
and the Grimaldi, the Medici and the Pazzi, some of whom held 
mortgages on kingdoms and acquired the titles of princes for them- 
selves. Cf. the modern expression ' merchant prince.' 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 103 

From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never train'd 
To offices of tender courtesy. 

We all expect a gentle answer, Jew. 34 

Shylock. I have possess'd your Grace of what I purpose ; 
And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn 
To have the due and forfeit of my bond : 
If you deny it, let the danger light 
Upon your charter and your city's freedom. 
You '11 ask me, why I rather choose to have 40 

A weight of carrion-flesh than to receive 
Three thousand ducats : I '11 not answer that : 
But, say, it is my humour ; is it answer'd ? 
What if my house be troubl'd with a rat, 
And I be pleas'd to give ten thousand ducats 45 

To have it ban'd ! What, are you answer'd yet? 
Some men there are love not a gaping pig ; 

35. Shylock | Jew QqFf. 36. Sabbath QiFf | Sabaoth Q2. 

34. Here, as in II, vi, 51, there may be a pun on 'gentle.' 

35. possess'd : informed fully. So in I, iii, 60. 

39. Perhaps Shakespeare had London in his mind, which held 
certain rights and franchises by royal charter, and was liable to have 
its charter revoked for an act of flagrant injustice. 

43. The meaning seems to be : What if I should say it is my 
humor; is that an answer? In the Elizabethan time humor was 
used, much as conscience was at a later period, to justify any eccen- 
tric impulse for which no ground of reason could be alleged. Thus, 
if a man had an individual crotchet which he meant should over- 
ride the laws and conditions of our social being, it was his humor. 

46. ban'd: poisoned. Cf. Measure for Measure, I, ii, 133. 

47. A pig's head as roasted for the table. In England a boar's 
head was served up at Christmas with a lemon in its mouth. So in 
Webster's Duchess of Malfi, III, ii : " He could not abide to see 
a pig's head gaping : I thought your grace w r ould find him a Jew." 
And in Fletcher's Elder Brother, II, ii, "Gaping like a roasted pig." 



104 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv 

Some, that are mad if they behold a cat ; 

And others, when the bag-pipe sings i' the nose. 

Masters of passion sways it to the mood 50 

Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer : 

As there is no firm reason to be render'd, 

Why he cannot abide a gaping pig ; 

Why he, a harmless necessary cat ; . 

Why he, a woollen bag-pipe, but of force 55 

Must yield to such inevitable shame 

As to offend, himself. being offended; 

So can I give no reason, nor I will not, 

More than a lodg'd hate and a certain loathing 

I bear Antonio, that I follow thus 60 

A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd? 

50. sways. For discussion of third person plural in -s, see Abbott, 
§ 333- — it- Passion. 

51. of what it likes or loathes. An axiomatic saying. Even the 
greatest masters of passion move and rule it according as it is pre- 
disposed. Shakespeare's power lies partly in that fact : hence, in 
his work, the passions are rooted in the persons, instead of being 
merely pasted on. Grant White suggests that ' masters of passion ' 
may refer to " those things or occurrences (such as the instances just 
cited by Shylock) that move either the sympathy or antipathy of 
any man." 

55. a woollen bag-pipe. Bagpipes used to be carried or kept in 
woolen cases. Johnson proposed ' wooden,' and Sir John Hawkins 
'swollen'; which latter Steevens adopted. Collier's Second Folio 
has 'bollen,' which is an old word meaning about the same as 
'swollen'; and Dyce adopts that reading. 'Wauling' is Capell's 
conjecture; and both Dr. Ingleby and Mr. A. E. Brae, each inde- 
pendently of the other, and without being aware of Capell's con- 
jecture, hit upon the same correction. Mason notes that it is not 
by the sight of the bagpipe that persons are affected, but by the 
sound. 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 105 

Bassanio. This is no answer, thou unfeeling man, 
To excuse the current of thy cruelty. 63 

Shylock. I am not bound to please thee with my answer. 

Bassanio. Do all men kill the things they do not love? 

Shylock. Hates any man the thing he would not kill ? 

Bassanio. Every offence is not a hate at first. 67 

Shylock. What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee 
twice ? 

Antonio. I pray you, think you question with the Jew. 
You may as well go stand upon the beach, 7° 

And bid the main flood bate his usual height ; 
You may as well use question with the wolf, 
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb ; 
You may as well forbid the mountain pines 
To wag their high tops, and to make no noise, 75 

When they are fretted with the gusts of heaven ; 
You may as well do anything most hard, 
As seek to soften that — than which what's harder? — 
His Jewish heart : therefore, I do beseech you, 
Make no more offers, use no further means ; 80 

But with all brief and plain conveniency 
Let me have judgment, and the Jew his will. 

72. You may Qq | Or even Ff. the Lambe : Fi | The ewe bleate for 

73. Why he hath made the ewe the Lambe : when you behold, F2 
bleat for the lamb : Q3Q4 I Why he F3F4 Rowe. 

hath made the ewe bleake for the 76. fretted Ff | fretten Qq. 

Lambe: Qi | The ewe bleate for 78. what 's Qq | what F1F2F3. 

69. " Remember you are arguing with Shylock, whose cruel nature 
is known." — Clar. 

71. main flood: ocean tide. — bate: lessen, reduce. 

81. brief and plain conveniency : convenient brevity and plainness. 

82. Let the sentence proceed against me with such promptness 
and directness as befit the administration of justice. 



106 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv 

Bassanio. For thy three thousand ducats here is six. 

Shylock. If every ducat in six thousand ducats 
Were in six parts, and every part a ducat, 85 

I would not draw them ; I would have my bond. 

Duke. How shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering none ? 

Shylock. What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong? 
You have among you many a purchas'd slave, 
Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules, 90 

You use in abject and in slavish parts, 
Because you bought them : shall I say to you, 
Let them be free, marry them to your heirs? 
Why sweat they under burthens? let their beds 
Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates 95 

Be season'd with such viands? You will answer, 
1 The slaves are ours.' — So do I answer you : 
The pound of flesh, which I demand of him, 
Is dearly bought ; 'tis mine, and I will have it. 
If you deny me, fie upon your law ! 100 

There is no force in the decrees of Venice. 
I stand for judgment : answer; shall I have it? 

Duke. Upon my power I may dismiss this court, 
Unless Bellario, a learned doctor, 

Whom I have sent for to determine this, 105 

Come here to-day. 

Salerio. My lord, here stays without 

A messenger with letters from the" doctor, 
New come from Padua. 

Duke. Bring us the letters ; call the messenger. 109 

Bassanio. Good cheer, Antonio ! What, man, courage yet ! 

106. Salerio Q2 I Saler.Qi | Sal. 109. messenger Qq | messengers 

Ff. Ff. 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 107 

The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones, and all, 
Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood. 

Antonio. I am a tainted wether of the flock, 
Meetest for death : the weakest kind of fruit 
Drops earliest to the ground ; and so let me : 115 

You cannot better be employ'd, Bassanio, 
Than to live still, and write mine epitaph. 

Enter Nerissa, dressed like a lawyer's clerk 

Duke. Came you from Padua, from Bellario? 

Nerissa. From both, my lord. Bellario greets your Grace. 

\_Prese?iting a letter] 

Bassanio. Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly? 

Shylock. To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there. 

Gratiano. Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew, 
Thou mak'st thy knife keen ; but no metal can, 123 

No, not the hangman's axe, bear half the keenness 
Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee? 

Shylock. No, none that thou hast wit enough to make. 

Gratiano. O, be thou damn'd, inexecrable dog ! 
And for thy life let justice be accus'd. 
Thou almost mak'st me waver in my faith, 
To hold opinion with Pythagoras, x 3° 

112. lose Qi I loose Q2F1F2F3. my L. Qi | both. My Lord (two lines) 

118. Scene II Pope. — dressed Ff. 

. . . clerk Rowe | omitted in Ff. 127. inexecrable QqFiF2 i inexor- 

119. both, my lord. Camb | both, able F3F4. 

127. inexecrable : " that cannot be execrated enough." — Clar. 

128. Let justice be impeached or arraigned for suffering thee to live. 
130. Pythagoras. The ancient philosopher of Samos, who is said 

to have held the doctrine of transmigration of souls. Shakespeare 
has two other famous references to him and his tenets : As You Like 
It, III, ii, 187, and Twelfth Night, IV, ii, 53-65. 



108 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv 

That souls of animals infuse themselves 

Into the trunks of men : thy currish spirit 

Govern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for human slaughter, 

Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet, 

And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallow'd dam, 135 

Infus'd itself in thee ; for thy desires 

Are wolfish, bloody, starv'd, and ravenous. 

Shylock. Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond, 
Thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud : 
Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall 140 

To cureless ruin. I stand here for law. 

Duke. This letter from Bellario doth commend 
A young and learned doctor to our court. — 
Where is he? 

Nerissa. He attendeth here hard by, 
To know your answer, whether you '11 admit him. 145 

Duke. With all my heart. — Some three or four of you 
Go give him courteous conduct to this place. — 
Meantime the court shall hear Bellario's letter. 148 

Clerk. [Reads'] 

Your Grace shall understand, that at the receipt of your letter 
I am very sick : but in the instant that your messenger came, 
in loving visitation was with me a young doctor of Rome ; his 
name is Balthasar. I acquainted him with the cause in contro- 
versy between the Jew and Antonio the merchant : we turn'd 
o'er many books together : he is furnish'd with my opinion ; 
which, better'd with his own learning, — the greatness whereof 

141. cureless Qq | endless Ff | 143. to Qq | in Ff. 

careless Pope. 149. Clerk. [Reads] | QqFf omit. 

133. who, hang'd. Nominative absolute. See Abbott, § 376. 
139. to speak : in speaking. Infinitives used indefinitely. See 
Abbott, § 356. 



scene i THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 109 

I cannot enough commend, — comes with him, at my impor- 
tunity, to fill up your Grace's request in my stead. I beseech 
you, let his lack of years be no impediment to let him lack a 
reverend estimation ; for I never knew so young a body with so 
old a head. I leave him to your gracious acceptance, whose 
trial shall better publish his commendation. 161 

Duke. You hear the learn 'd Bellario, what he writes : 
And here, I take it, is the doctor come. — 

Enter Portia, dressed like a doctor of laws 

Give me your hand. Come you from old Bellario? 

Portia. I did, my lord. 

Duke. You are welcome : take your place. 

Are you acquainted with the difference 166 

That holds this present question in the court? 

Portia. I am informed throughly of the cause. 
Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew? 

Duke. Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth. 170 

Portia. Is your name Shylock? 

Shylock. Shylock is my name. 

Portia. Of a strange nature is the suit you follow ; 
Yet in such rule, that the Venetian law 

161. After this line in QqFf ' En- 164. Enter . . . | Enter Portia 

ter Portia for Balthasar ' (Balthazer Dress'd like a Doctor of Laws Rowe. 
Q1Q2 I Balthazar F1F2). 164. Come Qq | Came Ff. 

158-159. Let his youthfulness be no hindrance to his being rever- 
ently esteemed. Professor Gummere suggests that ' let him lack ' 
may be a printer's repetition of ' let his lack ' ; but as the text stands 
the play upon words is thoroughly Shakespearian. 

160. whose: for his. See Abbott, § 263. 

167. question. The dispute to decide which the present inquiry 
is held. 



HO THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv 

Cannot impugn you as you do proceed. — 

You stand within his danger, do you not? .175 

Antonio. Ay, so he says. 

Portia. Do you confess the bond ? 

Antonio. I do. 

Portia. Then must the Jew be merciful. 

Shylock. On what compulsion must I? tell me that. 

Portia. /The quality of mercy is not strain'd ; 
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 180 

Upon the place beneath : it is twice blest ; 
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes : 
'T is mightiest in the mightiest : it becomes 
The throned monarch better than his crown ; 
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, 185 

The attribute to awe and majesty, 

175. " Within one's danger " properly meant within some one's 
power or control, liable to a penalty which he might impose. Some- 
times, however, it was used for being in some one's debt. Here 
the meaning seems to be, Your life is in his power, and so in danger 
from him. See Skeat for history of the word 'danger.' 

179. The nature of mercy is to act freely, not from constraint. 
Portia had used ' must ' in a moral sense, and the Jew purposely 
took it in a legal sense. This gives a natural occasion and impulse 
for her strain of "heavenly eloquence." 

183. This may mean, either that mercy exists in the greatest 
plenitude in Him who is omnipotent, or that the more power one 
has to inflict pain, the more one bows and subdues the heart by 
showing mercy. If the former, it should be printed " in the Might- 
iest." It was evidently a favorite idea with Shakespeare that the 
noblest and most amiable thing is power mixed with gentleness ; and 
that the highest style of manhood is that which knows no fear of 
pain, but is a child to the touches of compassion. 

186. The thing attributed or assigned for the purpose of inspiring 
awe and of symbolizing majesty. 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE in 

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings ; 

But mercy is above this sceptred sway ; 

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 

It is an attribute to God himself; 19° 

And earthly power doth then show likest God's 

When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 

Though justice be thy plea, consider this, — 

That, in the course of justice, none of us 

Should see salvation : we do pray for mercy ; 195 

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 

The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much 

To mitigate the justice of thy plea ; 

Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice 

Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there. 200 

Shylock. My deeds upon my head ! I crave the law, 
The penalty and forfeit of my bond. 

Portia. Is he not able to discharge the money? 

Bassanio. Yes, here I tender it for him in the court ; 
Yea, twice the sum : if that will not suffice, 205 

I will be bound to pay it ten times o'er, 
On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart : 

191. likest Q2Ff | lik'st Qi. 199. court Qq | course Ff. 

196. " Portia, referring the Jew to the Christian doctrine of sal- 
vation, and the Lord's Prayer, is a little out of character." So 
says Judge Blackstone ; whereas the Lord's Prayer was itself but a 
compilation, all the petitions in it being taken out of the ancient 
euchologies or prayer books of the Jews. So in Ecdesiastictis, 
xxviii, 2 : " Forgive thy neighbour the hurt that he hath done unto 
thee, so shall thy sins also be forgiven when thou prayest." 

205. twice. In previous editions of Hudson's Shakespeare the 
reading ' thrice ' was followed to bring the statement into exact 
agreement with that in 11. 222, 229, but in Shakespeare there are 
many slips of this kind. 



112 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv 

If this will not suffice, it must appear 

That malice bears down truth. And I beseech you, 

Wrest once the law to your authority : 210 

To do a great right, do a little wrong ; 

And curb this cruel devil of his will. 

Portia. It must not be ; there is no power in Venice 
Can alter a decree established : 

'Twill be recorded for a precedent; 215 

And many an error, by the same example, 
Will rush into the state. It cannot be. 

Shylock. A Daniel come to judgment ! yea, a Daniel ! 
O wise young judge, how I do honour thee ! 

Portia. I pray you, let me look upon the bond. 220 

Shylock. Here 't is, most reverend doctor ; here it is. 

Portia. Shylock, there 's thrice thy money offer'd thee. 

Shylock. An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven : 
Shall I lay perjury upon my soul? 
No, not for Venice. 

Portia. Why, this bond is forfeit ; 225 

And lawfully by this the Jew may claim 
A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off 
Nearest the merchant's heart. — Be merciful ; 
Take thrice thy money; bid me tear the bond. 

Shylock. When it is paid according to the tenour. 230 
It doth appear you are a worthy judge ; 

215. precedent Qq | President Ff. 219. I do Qq | do I Ff. 

209. truth : honesty. A ' true ' man in old language is an ' honest ' 
man. The honesty here is in offering to pay thrice the money. 

218. Daniel. See The History of Susanna and Bel and the Dragon 
in the Apocrypha. Cf. also Ezekiel, xxviii, 3 ; Daniel, vi, 3. 

230. tenour. ' Tenure ' is the Folio spelling. 



scene i THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 113 

You know the law, your exposition 

Hath been most sound : I charge you by the law, 

Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar, 

Proceed to judgment. By my soul I swear 235 

There is no power in the tongue of man 

To alter me : I stay here on my bond. 

Antonio. Most heartily I do beseech the court 
To give the judgment. 

Portia. Why then, thus it is : 

You must prepare your bosom for his knife. 240 

Shylock. O noble judge ! O excellent young man ! 

Portia. For the intent and purpose of the law 
Hath full relation to the penalty, 
Which here appeareth due upon the bond. 

Shylock. 'T is very true. O wise and upright judge ! 245 
How much more elder art thou than thy looks ! 

Portia. Therefore lay bare your bosom. 

Shylock. Ay, his breast : 

So says the bond : — doth it not, noble judge ? — 
Nearest his heart : those are the very words. 

Portia. It is so. Are there balance here to weigh 250 
The flesh? 

Shylock. I have them ready. 

247. your QqFiF-2F3 I thy F4. 250-251. Printed as prose in QqFf. 

237. on: in dependence on. See Abbott, § 180. 

242-243. The law relating to contracts is fully applicable in this case. 

246. more elder. Double comparatives and superlatives are com- 
mon in Shakespeare and Elizabethan literature generally. See 
Abbott, § 11. 

250. balance. This singular form, due to the sibilant ending, is 
common in sixteenth century literature. So in Baret's Alvearie 
(1580) : " Balances, or a payre of balance." 



114 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv 

Portia. Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge, 
To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death. 

Shylock. Is it so nominated in the bond? 

Portia. It is not so express'd; but what of that? 255 
'T were good you do so much for charity. 

Shylock. I cannot find it ; 'tis not in the bond. 

Portia. Come, merchant, have you any thing to say? 

Antonio. But little : I am arm'd and well prepar'd. — 
Give me your hand, Bassanio : fare you well ! 260 

Grieve not that I am fall'n to this for you \ 
For herein Fortune shows herself more kind 
Than is her custom : it is still her use 
To let the wretched man outlive his wealth, 
To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow 265 

An age of poverty ; from which lingering penance 
Of such a misery doth she cut me off. 
Commend me to your honourable wife : 
Tell her the process of Antonio's end ; 
Say how I lov'd you, speak me fair in death ; 270 

And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge 
Whether Bassanio had not once a love. 
Repent not you that you shall lose your friend, 
And he repents not that he pays your debt ; 
For, if the Jew do cut but deep enough, 275 

I '11 pay it instantly with all my heart. 

253- do Qq I should Ff. 267. such a F2F3F4 I such QqFi. 

254. Is it so Qq I It is not Ff. 273. not you Ff | but you Qq. 

258. Come Ff | you Qq. 276. instantly Q2Ff | presently Qi. 

263. still her use: ever her custom. See note, p. 4, 1. 17. 
270. "Speak well of me when I am dead." — Oar. Or, perhaps, 
Tell the world that I died like a man. 

276. An equivoque on ' heart ' ; and it rather heightens the pathos. 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 115 

Bassanio. Antonio, I am married to a wife 
Which is as dear to me as life itself ; 
But life itself, my wife, and all the world, 
Are not with me esteem'd above thy life : 280 

I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all 
Here to this devil, to deliver you. 

Portia. Your wife would give you little thanks for that, 
If she were by, to hear you make the offer. 

Gratiano. I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love : 285 
I would she were in heaven, so she could 
Entreat some power to change this currish Jew. 

Nerissa. 'T is well you offer it behind her back ; 
The wish would make else an unquiet house. 

Shylock. \_Aside~] These be the Christian husbands ! I 
have a daughter ; 290 

Would any of the stock of Barrabas 
Had been her husband rather than a Christian ! 
\_AIoud~\ We trifle time : I pray thee, pursue sentence. 

Portia. A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine : 
The court awards it, and the law doth give it. 295 

Shylock. Most rightful judge ! 

Portia. And you must cut this flesh from off his breast : 
The law allows it, and the court awards it. 

Shylock. Most learned judge ! A sentence ! Come, 
prepare ! 

Portia. Tarry a little ; there is something else. 300 

This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood ; 

281. ay, Pope | I QqFf. 285. whom Ff | who Qn. 

278. ' Which ' for 'who.' A common usage. See Abbott, § 265. 
291. Barrabas. Here, as with Barabas in The Jew of Malta, the 
word is accented on the first syllable. 



Il6 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv 

The words expressly are, a pound of flesh : 

Take then thy bond, take thou ,thy pound of flesh ; 

But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed 

One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods 3°5 

Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate 

Unto the state of Venice. 

Gratiano. O upright judge ! Mark, Jew: O learned judge ! 

Shylock. Is that the law ! 

Portia. Thyself shalt see the act : 

For, as thou urgest justice, be assur'd 3 IQ 

Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest. 

Gratiano. O learned judge ! — Mark, Jew : a learned judge ! 

Shylock. I take this offer, then; — pay the bond thrice, 
And let the Christian go. 

Bassanio. Here is the money. 

Portia. Soft! 3*5 

The Jew shall have all justice ; soft ! no haste : 
He shall have nothing but the penalty. 

Gratiano. O Jew ! an upright judge, a learned judge ! 

Portia. Therefore prepare thee to cut off the flesh. 
Shed thou no blood ; nor cut thou less nor more 3 20 

But just a pound of flesh : if thou cut'st more 
Or less than a just pound, — be it but so much 
As makes it light or heavy in the substance, 
Or the division of the twentieth part 

Of one poor scruple, nay, if the scale do turn 3 2 5 

But in the estimation of a hair, — 
Thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate. 



303. Take then Qq | Then take 315-316. One line in QqFf. 

Ff. 321. cut'st Qi I tak'st Q- 2 Ff. 

308. Two lines in QqFf. 322. be it but Qq | be it Ff. 



scene i THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 117 

Gratiano. A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew ! 
Now, infidel, I have thee on the hip. 

Portia. Why doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture. 33° 

Shylock. Give me my principal, and let me go. 

Bassanio. I have it ready for thee ; here it is. 

Portia. He hath refus'd it in the open court : 
He shall have merely justice and his bond. 

Gratiano. A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel ! — 335 
I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word. 

Shylock. Shall I not have barely my principal? 

Portia. Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture, 
To be so taken at thy peril, Jew. 

Shylock. Why, then the devil give him good of it ! 340 
I '11 stay no longer question. 

Portia. Tarry, Jew : 

The law hath yet another hold on you. 
It is enacted in the laws of Venice, 
If it be proved against an alien 

That by direct or indirect attempts 345 

He seek the life of any citizen, 
The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive 
Shall seize one half his goods ; the other half 
Comes to the privy coffer of the state ; 
And the offender's life lies in the mercy 35° 

Of the Duke only, 'gainst all other voice. 
•In which predicament, I say, thou stand'st; 
For it appears, by manifest proceeding, 

329. thee Ff | you Qq. 341. question | here in question Qi. 
339. so taken Qq | taken so Ff. 348. one Q2F1 | on Qi. 

330. In Furness is a suggestive note on this ' pause.' 

352. predicament. See Century for the history of this word. 



Il8 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv 

That indirectly, and directly too, 

Thou hast contriv'd against the very life 355 

Of the defendant ; and thou hast incurr'd 

The danger formerly by me rehears'd. 

Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the Duke. 

Gratiano. Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thyself : 
And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state, 360 

Thou hast not left the value of a cord ; 
Therefore thou must be hang'd at the state's charge. 

Duke. That thou shalt see the difference of our spirits, 
I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it : 
For half thy wealth, it is Antonio's ; 365 

The other half comes to the general state, 
Which humbleness may drive unto a fine. 

Portia. Ay, for the state ; not for Antonio. 

Shylock. Nay, take my life and all ; pardon not that : 
You take my house, when you do take the prop 31° 

That doth sustain my house ; you take my life, 
When you do take the means whereby I live. 

Portia. What mercy can you render him, Antonio? 

Gratiano. A halter gratis ; nothing else, for God's sake. 

Antonio. So please my lord the Duke and all the court 
To quit the fine for one half of his goods, 37& 

I am content ; so he will let me have 

355. hast QqFi I had F2F3F4. . 363- spirits Qi | spirit Q2Ff. 

367. Submission on your part may move me to reduce it to a fine. 

368. Meaning, apparently, that the reduction of the forfeiture to 
a fine should apply only to that half of his goods which was to come 
to the coffer of the state, not to that which fell to Antonio. 

376. If the court will remit the fine or acquit Shylock of the for- 
feiture so far as the claim of the state is concerned. Shakespeare 
often uses 'quit 'for 'acquit' or 'release.' Cf. AsYouLike It, III,i, 11. 



scene i THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 119 

The other half in use, to render it, 

Upon his death, unto the gentleman 

That lately stole his daughter : 380 

Two things provided more, — that, for this favour, 

He presently become a Christian ; 

The other, that he do record a gift, 

Here in the court, of all he dies possess'd, 

Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter. 385 

Duke. He shall do this ; or else I do recant 
The pardon that I late pronounced here. 

Portia. Art thou contented, Jew? what dost thou say? 

Shylock. I am content. 

Portia. Clerk, draw a deed of gift. 

Shylock. I pray you, give me leave to go from hence; 39° 
I am not well : send the deed after me, 
And I will sign it. 

Duke. Get thee gone, but do it. 

Gratiano. In christening shalt thou have two godfathers : 

389. Clerk I Clearke Qi I Clarke Fi. 393. shalt thou Qq I thou shalt Ff. 

380. " That is, in trust for Shylock during his life, for the purpose 
of securing it at his (not ' my,' as suggested by Johnson) death to 
Lorenzo. ... In conveyances of land, where it is intended to give 
the estate to any person after the death of another, it is necessary 
that a third person should be possessed of the estate, and the use 
be declared to the one after the death of the other, or the estate 
to the future possessor would be rendered insecure. This is called 
a conveyance to uses." The anonymous author of the foregoing, 
cited by Halliwell, adds that Shakespeare has rendered the old Latin 
law phrase pertaining to the case " with all the strictness of a tech- 
nical conveyancer, and has made Antonio desire to have one half 
of Shylock's goods in use, — to render it upon his (Shylock's) death 
to Lorenzo — not an unfrequent mode of securing a future estate." 

382. presently : at once. So below in 1. 399 and 1. 450. 



120 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv 

Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more, 

To bring thee to the gallows, not the font. [Exit Shylock] 

Duke. Sir, I entreat you home with me to dinner. 39 6 

Portia. I humbly do desire your Grace of pardon : 
I must away this night toward Padua, 
And it is meet I presently set forth. 

Duke. I am sorry that your leisure serves you not. — 400 
Antonio, gratify this gentleman ; 
For, in my mind, you are much bound to him. 

[Exeunt the Duke a?id his train] 

Bassanio. Most worthy gentleman, I and my friend 
Have by your wisdom been this day acquitted 
Of grievous penalties ; in lieu whereof, 405 

Three thousand ducats, due unto the Jew, 
We freely cope your courteous pains withal. 

Antonio. And stand indebted, over and above, 
In love and service to you evermore. 

Portia. He is well paid that is well satisfied ; 410 

And I, delivering you, am satisfied, 
And therein do account myself well paid : 
My mind was never yet more mercenary. 
I pray you, know me when we meet again : 
I wish you well, and so I take my leave. 415 

395. not the Qi | not to the £>2Ff 396. home with me Qq I with me 

Q3Q4. home Ff. 

394. Meaning a jury of twelve men to condemn him. This appears 
to have been an old joke, and is found in Ben Jonson. 

397. An English idiom now obsolete. So in A Midsummer Night's 
Dream, III, i, 185 : "I shall desire you of more acquaintance." 

401. gratify : recompense. Cf. Coriolamis, II, ii, 44. 

407. cope : reward, requite. — withal. A preposition governing 
'ducats.' See Abbott, § 196. 



scene i THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 121 

Bassanio. Dear sir, of force I must attempt you further: 
Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute, 
Not as a fee : grant me two things, I pray you, 
Not to deny me, and to pardon me. 419 

Portia. You press me far, and therefore I will yield. — 
\_To Antonio] Give me your gloves, I '11 wear them for your 

sake ; — 
[ To Bassanio] And, for your love, I '11 take this ring from you. 
Do not draw back your hand ; I '11 take no more ; 
And you in love shall not deny me this. 

Bassanio. This ring, good sir, — alas, it is a trifle ! 4 2 5 
I will not shame myself to give you this. 

Portia. I will have nothing else but only this ; 
And now me thinks I have a mind to it. 

Bassanio. There 's more depends on this than on the value. 
The dearest ring in Venice will I give you, 430 

And find it out by proclamation : 
Only for this, I pray you, pardon me. 

Portia. I see, sir, you are liberal in offers : 
You taught me first to beg ; and now methinks 
You teach me how a beggar should be answer'd. 435 

418. a fee Q1F2 I fee Q 2 Fi. 424- this. Qi | this ? Q2F1. 

416. attempt: tempt. Cf. Measure for Measure, IV, ii, 205. 
429. The First Quarto reads : 

There 's more then this depends upon the valew. 
The First Folio : 

There 's more depends on this then on the valew. 
Theobald's conjecture is : 

There 's more depends on this, than is the value. 
Capell suggests : 

There 's more depends on this than the stone's value. 



122 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv 

Bassanio. Good sir, this ring was given me by my wife ; 
And when she put it on, she made me vow 
That I should neither sell nor give nor lose it. 

Portia. That 'scuse serves many men to save their gifts. 
And if your wife be not a mad-woman, 44° 

And know how well I have deserv'd this ring, 
She would not hold out enemy for ever 
For giving it to me. Well, peace be with you ! 

[Exeunt Portia and Nerissa] 

Antonio. My Lord Bassanio, let him have the ring : 
Let his deservings, and my love withal, 445 

Be valued 'gainst your wife's commandment. 

Bassanio. Go, Gratiano, run and overtake him ; 
Give him the ring ; and bring him, if thou canst, 
Unto Antonio's house. Away ! make haste. — 

[Exit Gratiano] 
Come, you and I will thither presently ; 45° 

And in the morning early will we both 
Fly toward Belmont : come, Antonio. [Exeunt] 

Scene II. The same. A street 

Enter Portia and Nerissa 

Portia. Inquire the Jew's house out, give him this deed, 
And let him sign it : we '11 away to-night, 

441. this ring Q2Ff | the ring Qi. 446. 'gainst Q3 I gainst Qi | against Ff. 

446. commandment. Properly four syllables here, as if written 
* commandement.' And so, in fact, it is spelled in the Quartos 
(' commaundement,' Second Quarto) and the first three Folios. Per- 
haps the old spelling should in such cases be retained, as in the met- 
rical version of the Psalms still used in the Presbyterian churches 
of Scotland. 



scene ii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 123 

And be a day before our husbands home. 
This deed will be well welcome to Lorenzo. 



Enter Gratiano 

Gratiano. Fair sir, you are well o'erta'en : 5 

My Lord Bassanio, upon more advice, 
Hath sent you here this ring, and doth entreat 
Your company at dinner. 

Portia. That cannot be : 

His ring I do accept most thankfully ; 
And so, I pray you, tell him : furthermore, 10 

I pray you, show my youth old Shylock's house. 

Gratiano. That will I do. 

Nerissa. Sir, I would speak with you. — 

[Aside to Portia] I '11 see if I can get my husband's ring, 
Which I did make him swear to keep for ever. 

Portia. [Aside to Nerissa] Thou mayst, I warrant. We 
shall have old swearing 15 

That they did give the rings away to men ; 
But we '11 outface them, and outswear them too. 
Away ! make haste : thou know'st where I will tarry. 

Nerissa. Come, good sir ; will you show me to this house ? 

[Exeunt] 

13, 15. [Aside . . .] omitted in QqFf. • 9. His ring Q2Ff I This ring Qi. 

6. advice : consideration. Cf. 'advised' in I, i, 142. 

15. old. A frequent intensive in colloquial speech in the sixteenth 
century, and reappearing in the twentieth in slang expressions and 
street and college songs. So in Much Ado About Nothing, V, ii, 98 : 
" Yonder 's old coil at home." And in The Merry Wives of Windsor, 
I, iv, 5 : " here will be an old abusing of God's patience and the 
king's English." 



ACT V 

Scene I. Belmont. Avenue to Portia's house 
Enter Lorenzo a?id Jessica 

Lorenzo. The moon shines bright. In such a night as this, 
When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees, 
And they did make no noise, — in such a night 
Troilus methinks mounted the Troyan walls, 
And sigh'd his soul toward the Grecian tents, 5 

Where Cressid lay that night. 

Jessica. In such a night 

Did Thisbe fearfully o'ertrip the dew, 
And saw the lion's shadow ere himself, 
And ran dismay 'd away. 

Avenue to . . . Capell | A Grove 4. Troilus | Troylus Fi. — Troyan 

or Green Place before . . . Theobald. Qi | Troian Fi | Trojan Q3. — walls 
1. Printed in two lines Qi. QqFi | wall F2F3F4. 

6. Cressid | CressedFi | Cressada 

Qi. 

4. The story of Troilus and Cressida is dramatized in Shake- 
speare's play of that name. This development of the Troy-legend is 
probably the invention of Benoit de Sainte-More, a twelfth century 
trouvere. Benoit's ' Briseida ' became ' Griseida ' in Boccaccio's 
It Filostrato, and ' Criseyde ' in Chaucer's version of the story. Line 
666, Book V, of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde may have suggested 
the passage in Lorenzo's speech. 

7. The story of " Pyramus and his love Thisbe " is burlesqued 
in the interlude of Bottom and company in A Midsummer Night's 
Dream. In Chaucer's The Legend of Good Women the stories of 
Thisbe, Dido, and Medea follow one another in the same orderas here. 

124 



scene i THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 125 

Lorenzo. In such a night 

Stood Dido with a willow in her hand 10 

Upon the wild sea banks, and waft her love 
To come again to Carthage. 

Jessica. In such a night 

Medea gather'd the enchanted herbs 
That did renew old yEson. 

Lorenzo. In such a night 

Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew, 15 

And with an unthrift love did run from Venice 
As far as Belmont. 

Jessica. In such a night 

Did young Lorenzo swear he lov'd her well, 
Stealing her soul with many vows of faith, 
And ne'er a true one. 

Lorenzo. • In such a night 20 

Did pretty Jessica, like a little shrew, 
Slander her love, and he forgave it her. 

11. waft QqFf I wav'd Theobald. 21. shrew QiJ shrow Q2F1. 

10. Spenser in like sort makes the willow a symbol of forsaken 
love. So in -The Faerie Queene, I, i, 9. In 11. 10-12, as also in 11. 1-4, 
Matthew Arnold says "we have the sheer, inimitable Celtic note." 

11. waft: wafted. See Abbott, § 341. 

13. Twice before in this play we have had allusions to the story 
of Jason and his voyage to Colchis (Colchos, I, i, 171) in quest of 
the golden fleece. Medea, daughter of the King of- Colchis, fell 
in love with Jason and helped him to win the fleece ; then, having 
stolen her father's treasure, ran away with her lover to Greece. 
Jason's father was very old and infirm ; and Medea, by a broth of 
magic herbs, renewed the old man's youth. In Ovid (Metamorphoses, 
VII; Golding's translation, 1567) the sorceress gathers the herbs by 
moonlight; in Gower (Confessio Amantis, V), by starlight. Medea's 
elopement suggests Jessica's own story to Lorenzo. 



126 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v 

Jessica. I would out-night you, did no body come : 
But, hark, I hear the footing of a man. 

Enter Stephano 

Lorenzo. Who comes so fast in silence of the night? 25 

Stephano. A friend. 

Lorenzo. A friend ! what friend? your name, I pray you, 
friend ? 

Stephano. Stephano is my name; and I bring word 
My mistress will before the break of day 
Be here at Belmont : she doth stray about 30 

By holy crosses, where she kneels and prays 
For happy wedlock hours. 

Lorenzo. Who comes with her? 

Stephano. None but a holy hermit and her maid. 
I pray you, is my master yet return'd ? 34 

Lorenzo. He is not, nor we have not heard from him. — 
But go we in, I pray thee, Jessica, 
And ceremoniously let us prepare 
Some welcome for the mistress of the house. 3 8 

23. no body Q2F1 | nobody Qi. Enter a Messenger Qq | Enter Mes- 

24. Enter Stephano Theobald | senger Ff. 

28. In this play the name Stephano has the accent on the second 
syllable. In The Tempest the same name has it, rightly, on the 
first. 

31. In old times crosses such as are still to be seen by the traveler 
in southern Europe were set up at the intersection of roads, and in 
other places especially associated with saintly or heroic names, to 
invite the passers-by to devotion. And in those days Christians were 
much in the habit of remembering in their prayers whatever lay 
nearest their hearts. Shakespeare expresses the same old thought 
still more sweetly in two other places. 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 127 

Enter Launcelot 

Launcelot. Sola, sola ! wo, ha, ho ! sola, sola ! 

Lorenzo. Who calls? 40 

Launcelot. Sola ! did you see Master Lorenzo ? Master 
Lorenzo, sola, sola ! 

Lorenzo. Leave hollaing, man : here. 

Launcelot. Sola ! where ? where ? 

Lorenzo. Here. 45 

Launcelot. Tell him there 's a post come from my mas- 
ter, with his horn full of good news : my master will be 
here ere morning. \Exif\ 

Lorenzo. Sweet soul, let 's in, and there expect their 
coming. 
And yet no matter : why should we go in? — 5° 

My friend Stephano, signify, I pray you, 
Within the house, your mistress is at hand ; 
And bring your music forth into the air. — \_Exit Stephano] 
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank ! 
Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music 55 

Creep in our ears : soft stillness and the night 
Become the touches of sweet harmony. 

39. Enter Launcelot Rowel 49. Lorenzo. Sweet soul, let's in 

Enter Clowne QqFf. Malone | Lor. Sweet love, let's in 

41-42. Master Lorenzo ? Master Lo- Rowe | sweete soule. Loren. Let's 

renzo Camb | M. Lorenzo, & M. Lo- in QqFi | sweet love. Lor. Let 's 

renzo Q2F1 1 M. Lorenzo, M. Loren- in F2. 

zo Qi I M. Lorenzo, and M. Lorenza 51. Stephano Q1F2 I Stephen Fi. 

F2 I M.Lorenzo and Mrs. Lorenza F3. — I omitted in Fi. 

39. Launcelot sportively imitates the horn, referred to punningly 
in I.47, with which the 'post' used to herald his approach. 

41-42. Furness humorously describes the evolution of the First 
Folio text into the ' Master Lorenzo and Mistress Lorenzo ' of 
modem editors. 

49. expect: await. So in Milton, Paradise Lost, XII, 591. 



128 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v 

Sit, Jessica. Look, how the floor of heaven 

Is thick inlaid with patens of bright gold : 

There 's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st 60 

But in his motion like an angel sings, 

Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins : 

Such harmony is in immortal souls ; 

But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay 

Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it. — 65 

Enter Musicians 

Come, ho, and wake Diana with a hymn ! 

With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' ear, 

And draw her home with music. [Music] 

59. patens | pattens Q2F1 1 pattents 65. close it in Q2 | close in it 

Ql I patterns F2 I patines Malone. Qi Ff | close us in Rowe. 

59. patens : small plates, commonly of gold or silver-gilt, used in 
the celebration of the Eucharist. ' Patin,' ' patine ' are obsolete forms 
of the same word. Furness thinks the reference is to broken clouds, 
bright in the moonlight ; but 1. 60 undoubtedly refers to the stars. 

60-63. " The music of the spheres " is an ancient mystery which 
taught that the heavenly bodies in their revolutions sing together in 
a concert so loud, various, and sweet as to exceed all proportion to 
the human ear. And the greatest souls, from Plato (Republic, X) to 
Wordsworth, have been lifted above themselves, with the idea that 
the universe was knit together by a principle of which musical har- 
mony is the aptest and clearest expression. Milton touches it with 
surpassing sweetness in the morning hymn of Adam and Eve, Para- 
dise Lost, V, 177, and also in Arcades, 62 ff. See also Coleridge's 
Remorse, III, i, and Wordsworth's poem On the Power of Sound, 
xii. Cf. Job, xxxviii, 7 : " The morning stars sang together." 

63. So in Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, V, xxxviii : " Touching 
musical harmony, such is the force thereof, and so pleasing effects 
it hath in that very part of man which is most divine, that some 
have thereby been induced to think that the soul itself by nature 
is or hath in it harmony." 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 129 

Jessica. I am never merry when I hear sweet music. 

Lorenzo. The reason is, your spirits are attentive : 70 
For do but note a wild and wanton herd, 
Or race of youthful and unhandled colts, 
Fetching mad bounds, bellowing and neighing loud, 
Which is the hot condition of their blood ; 
If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound, 75 

Or any air of music touch their ears, 
You shall perceive them make a mutual stand, 
Their savage eyes turn'd to a modest gaze, 
By the sweet power of music : therefore the poet 
Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods; 80 
Since nought so stockish, hard, and full of rage, 
But music for the time doth change his nature. 
The man that hath no music in himself, 
Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds, 
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils ; 85 

The motions of his spirit are dull as night, 
And his affections dark as Erebus : 
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music. 

75. but hear perchance Q2F1 | 80. trees QqFi | tears F2F3F4. 

perchance but hear Qi. 82. his QqF2 I omitted in Fi. 

79. Ovid, Afetamorpkoses, X, xi, tells this story of Orpheus. 

87. Erebus : the darkest and gloomiest region of Hades. 

88. Upon the general subject of this splendid strain touching 
music and musical harmony, it seems but just to quote a passage 
hardly inferior from Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, II, ix: 
" There is a music wherever there is a harmony, order, or propor- 
tion ; and thus far we may maintain the music of the spheres : for 
those well-ordered motions and regular paces, though they give 
no sound unto the ear, yet to the understanding they strike a note 
most full of harmony. Whatsoever is harmonically composed 
delights in harmony ; which makes me much distrust the symmetry 



130 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v 

Enter Portia a?id Nerissa 

Portia. That light we see is burning in my hall. 
How far that little candle throws his beams ! 90 

So shines a good deed in a naughty world. 

Nerissa. When the moon shone, we did not see the candle. 

Portia. So doth the greater glory dim the less : 
A substitute shines brightly as a king, 
Until a king be by ; and then his state 95 

Empties itself, as doth an inland brook 
Into the main of waters. Music ! hark ! 

Nerissa. It is your music, madam, of the house. 

Portia. Nothing is good, I see, without respect : 
Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day. 100 

Nerissa. Silence bestows that virtue on it, madam. 

Portia. The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark, 
When neither is attended ; and I think 

of those heads which declaim against all church-music. For myself, 
not only from my obedience but my particular genius I do embrace 
it : for even that vulgar and tavern music which makes one man 
merry, another mad, strikes in me a deep fit of devotion, and a pro- 
found contemplation of the First Composer. There is something in 
it of divinity more than the ear discovers ; it is an hieroglyphical 
and shadowed lesson of the whole world and creatures of God, — 
such a melody to the ear as the whole world, well understood, would 
afford the understanding. In brief, it is a sensible fit of that har- 
mony which intellectually sounds in the ears of God. I will not say, 
with Plato, the soul is an harmony, but harmonical, and hath its 
nearest sympathy unto music." 

99. Nothing is good unless it be regarded, heeded, or attended to. 
Hence the music sounds much better when there is nothing to dis- 
tract or divert the attention. This explanation is justified by what 
Portia says in the second speech after. 

103. attended : heeded. Furness would take ' attended ' literally. 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 131 

The nightingale, if she should sing by day, 

When every goose is cackling, would be thought 105 

No better a musician than the wren. 

How many things by season season' d are 

To their right praise and true perfection ! — 

Peace, ho ! the moon sleeps with Endymion, 

And would not be awak'd. \_Music ceases] 

Lorenzo. That is the voice, no 

Or I am much deceiv'd, of Portia. 

Portia. He knows me, as the blind man knows the cuckoo, 
By the bad voice. 

Lorenzo. Dear lady, welcome home. 

Portia. We have been praying for our husbands' welfare, 
Which speed, we hope, the better for our words. 115 

Are they return'd ? 

109. ho ! I hoa ! Malone | how 114. husbands' welfare | hus- 

QqFf. bands welfare Q2Ff | husband health 

112, 113. As in Q2 I printed as Qi | husbands' healths Pope Camb. 
prose Ff. 

106. The difference is in the hearer's mind, and not in the songs 
themselves ; and the nightingale is reputed the first of songsters 
because she sings at the time when she can best be heard. We 
have a like thought in Sonnets, en. 

107. A characteristic, if here somewhat unpleasant, jingle in 'sea- 
son' and ' season'd.' The meaning is, that, by being rightly timed, the 
things are tempered and made fit for their purpose ; hence relished. 

109. Endymion was a very beautiful youth ; Juno took a fancy 
to him, whereupon Jupiter grew jealous, and cast him into a per- 
petual sleep on Mount Latmos. While he was there asleep, Selene 
(Luna), smitten with his beauty, used to come down and kiss him, 
and lie by his side. According to one version, Selene herself put 
him asleep, that she might have the pleasure of kissing him without 
his knowledge. The story was naturally a favorite with the poets, 
Lyly and Fletcher among the dramatists dealing with it, but young 
Keats shaped the story into its most immortal poetic form. 



132 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v 

Lorenzo. Madam, they are not yet ; 

But there is come a messenger before, 
To signify their coming. 

Portia. Go in, Nerissa; 

Give order to my servants that they take 
No note at all of our being absent hence ; — 120 

Nor you, Lorenzo ; — Jessica, nor you. \_A tucket sounds'] 

Lorenzo. Your husband is at hand ; I hear his trumpet : 
We are no tell-tales, madam ; fear you not. 

Portia. This night methinks is but the daylight sick ; 
It looks a little paler : 't is a day, I2 5 

Such as the day is when the sun is hid. 

Enter Bassanio, Antonio, Gratiano, and their followers 

Bassanio. We should hold day with the Antipodes, 
If you would walk in absence of the sun. 

Portia. Let me give light, but let me not be light; 
For a light wife doth make a heavy husband, 13° 

And never be Bassanio so for me : 
But God sort all ! You are welcome home, my lord. 

Bassanio. I thank you, madam. Give welcome to my 
friend : 
This is the man, this is Antonio, 
To whom I am so infinitely bound. 135 

131. so for me QqFi | so from me F2. 

121. tucket : a peculiar series of notes on a trumpet. Probably 
the word is from the Italian toccata. Ci.^Henry V, VI, ii, 35. 

127. hold day with : have day at the same time as. 

129. Twice before in this play there has been punning upon the 
word ' light.' Notice, too, the graceful play on 'bound' in 1. 136. 

132. sort : dispose. Cf. Richard III, II, hi, 36. 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 133 

Portia. You should in all sense be much bound to him, 
For, as I hear, he was much bound for you. 

Antonio. No more than I am well acquitted of. 

Portia. Sir, you are very welcome to our house : 
It must appear in other ways than words, 140 

Therefore I scant this breathing courtesy. 

Gratiano. [To Nerissa] By yonder moon I swear you 
do me wrong ; 
In faith, I gave it to the judge's clerk. 

Portia. A quarrel, ho, already! what's the matter? 

Gratiano. About a hoop of gold, a paltry ring 145 

That she did give me ; whose poesy was 
For all the world like cutler's poetry 
Upon a knife, ' Love me, and leave me not.' 

Nerissa. What talk you of the poesy or the value? 
You swore to me, when I did give it you, 15° 

That you would wear it till your hour of death ; 
And that it should lie with you in your grave : 
Though not for me, yet for your vehement oaths, 
You should have been respective, and have kept it. 
Gave it a judge's clerk ! no, God 's my judge, 155 

The clerk will ne'er wear hair on 's face that had it. 

146. poesy I poesie QiFf I posie Q2. 155- no, God's my judge Qq | 

151. your hour Qq | the hour Ff. but wel I know Ff. 

141. This complimentary form, made up only of breath, words. 

146. poesy : the verse, or motto, inscribed in a ring. Usually 
spelled in this sense ' posy.' As a motto (' sentiment ') usually accom- 
panied a gift of flowers, ' posy ' came to mean a nosegay. 

148. " Knives were formerly inscribed, by means of aquafortis, with 
short sentences in distich." — Sir John Hawkins, quoted by Reed. 

154. respective : mindful, considerate. Cf. ' respect,' I, i, 74. Both 
noun and adjective are used thus by Shakespeare. 



134 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v 

Gratiano. He will, and if he live to be a man. 

Nerissa. Ay, if a woman live to be a man. 

Gratiano. Now, by this hand, I gave it to a youth, 
A kind of boy; a little scrubbed boy, 160 

No higher than thyself, the judge's clerk ; 
A prating boy, that begg'd it as a fee : 
I could not for my heart deny it him. 

Portia. You were to blame, I must be plain with you, 
To part so slightly with your wife's first gift ; 165 

A thing stuck on with oaths upon your finger, 
And so riveted with faith unto your flesh. 
I gave my love a ring, and made him swear 
Never to part with it ; and here he stands : 
I dare be sworn for him, he would not leave it, 170 

Nor pluck it from his finger, for the wealth 
That the world masters. Now, in faith, Gratiano, 
You give your wife too unkind a cause of grief : 
And 'twere to me, I should be mad at it. 174 

Bassanio. [Aside] Why, I were best to cut my left hand off, 
And swear I lost the ring defending it. 

Gratiano. My Lord Bassanio gave his ring away 
Unto the judge that begg'd it, and indeed 
Deserv'd it too ; and then the boy, his clerk, 
That took some pains in writing, he begg'd mine : 180 

And neither man nor master would take aught 
But the two rings. 

160. scrubbed: stunted. From Anglo-Saxon scrob, 'shrub.' In 
Holland's Pliny we have : " Such will never prove fair trees, but 
scrubs only." And Verplanck observes that the name ' scrub oak ' 
was from the first settlement of America given to the dwarf or 
bush oak. Warton suggested that Shakespeare wrote 'stubbed.' 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 135 

Portia. What ring gave you, my lord? 

Not that, I hope, which you receiv'd of me. 

Bassanio. If I could add a lie unto a fault, 
I would deny it ; but you see my finger 185 

Hath not the ring upon it, — it is gone. 

Portia. Even so void is your false heart of truth. 
By heaven, I will ne'er come in your bed 
Until I see the ring. 

Nerissa. Nor I in yours 

Till I again see mine. 

Bassanio. Sweet Portia, 190 

If you did know to whom I gave the ring, 
If you did know for whom I gave the ring, 
And would conceive for what I gave the ring, 
And how unwillingly I left the ring, 

When nought would be accepted but the ring, 195 

You would abate the strength of your displeasure. 

Portia. If you had known the virtue of the ring, 
Or half her worthiness that gave the ring, 
Or your own honour to contain the ring, 
You would not then have parted with the ring. 200 

What man is there so much unreasonable, 
If you had pleas'd to have defended it 
With any terms of zeal, wanted the modesty 
To urge the thing held as a ceremony? 
Nerissa teaches me what to believe : 205 

I '11 die for 't but some woman had the ring. 

199. contain : retain. It is used in the same sense in Sonnets, 
lxxvii : " Look, what thy memory cannot contain." So in Bacon's 
Essays, LVII, Of Anger : " To containe anger from mischiefe, though 
it take hold of a man, there be two things." 



136 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v 

Bassanio. No, by mine honour, madam, by my soul, 
No woman had it, but a civil doctor, 
Which did refuse three thousand ducats of me, 
And begg'd the ring; the which I did deny him, 210 

And suffer'd him to go displeas'd away; 
Even he that did uphold the very life 
Of my dear friend. What should I say, sweet lady? 
I was enforc'd to send it after him : 

I was beset with shame and courtesy; 215 

My honour would not let ingratitude 
So much besmear it. Pardon me, good lady ; 
For, by these blessed candles of the night, 
Had you been there, I think you would have begg'd 
The ring of me to give the worthy doctor. 220 

Portia. Let not that doctor e'er come near my house. 
Since he hath got the jewel that I lov'd, 
And that which you did swear to keep for me, 
I will become as liberal as you ; 
I '11 not deny him any thing I have. 225 

Bassanio. Portia, forgive me this enforced wrong ; 

207. mine F1F2 I my Q1Q2. 212. did uphold Qi | had held up 
211. displeas'd away Ff | away Q2FL 

displeas'd Qi. 218. For Qq | And Ff. 

208. civil doctor : Doctor of Civil Law. 

215. shame and courtesy: shame of discourtesy. Shakespeare 
has several like expressions. In King Lear, I, ii, 48 : " This policy 
and reverence of age," meaning ' This policy, or custom, of rever- 
encing age.' Also in King Lear, I, iv, 364 : " This milky gentleness 
and course of yours " ; that is, ' milky and gentle course.' And 
Hamlet, I, i, 87 : " Well ratified by law and heraldry," meaning ' the 
law of heraldry.' 

218. The " candles of the night " are the moon and stars. So in 
Romeo and Juliet, III, v, 9: "Night's candles are burnt out." 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 137 

And, in the hearing of these many friends, 
I swear to thee, even by thine own fair eyes, 
Wherein I see myself, — 

Portia. Mark you but that ! 

In both my eyes he doubly sees himself ; 230 

In each eye, one : — swear by your double self, 
And there 's an oath of credit. 

Bassanio. Nay, but hear me : 

Pardon this fault, and by my soul I swear 
I never more will break an oath with thee. 

Antonio. I once did lend my body for his wealth ; 235 
Which, but for him that had your husband's ring, 
Had quite miscarried : I dare be bound again, 
My soul upon the forfeit, that your lord 
Will never more break faith advisedly. 

Portia. Then you shall be his surety. Give him this ; 240 
And bid him keep it better than the other. 

Antonio. Here, Lord Bassanio ; swear to keep this ring. 

Bassanio. By heaven, it is the same I gave the doctor ! 

Portia. I had it of him. You are all amaz'd : 
Here is a letter ; read it at your leisure ; 245 

It comes from Padua, from Bellario : 
There you shall find that Portia was the doctor ; 
Nerissa there her clerk : Lorenzo here 
Shall witness I set forth as soon as you, 

230. my Fi I mine F2. 235. his wealth Qq | thy wealth Ff. 

235. For his welfare or his good. ' Wealth ' is only another form 
of ' weal ' : we say indifferently ' common-weal' or ' common-wealth ' ; 
and the ' commonwealth ' is the good that men have in common. 

236. Which. This refers to the loan of Antonio's body. 
239. advisedly: deliberately. Cf. I, i, 142; II, i, 42. 



138 THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v 

And even but now return'd ; I have not yet 250 

Enter'd my house. — Antonio, you are welcome ; 

And I have better news in store for you 

Than you expect : unseal this letter soon ; 

There you shall find three of your argosies 

Are richly come to harbour suddenly : 255 

You shall not know by what strange accident 

I chanced on this letter. 

Antonio. I am dumb. 

Bassanio. Were you the doctor, and I knew you not? 

Antonio. Sweet lady, you have given me life and living ; 
For here I read for certain that my ships 260 

Are safely come to road. 

Portia. How now, Lorenzo ! 

My clerk hath some good comforts too for you. 

Nerissa. Ay, and I '11 give them him without a fee. — 
There do I give to you and Jessica, 

From the rich Jew, a special deed of gift, 265 

After his death, of all he dies possess'd of. 

Lorenzo. Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way 
Of starved people. 

Portia. It is almost morning, 

And yet I 'm sure you are not satisfied 
Of these events at full. Let us go in ; 270 

250. even but Qq | but ev'n Ff. 270. Let us Fi I let's Qi. 

251. In this welcome to Antonio and the announcement that his 
argosies " with portly sail " (I, i, 9) are " richly come to harbour sud- 
denly," Portia unravels the last tangle of the dramatic knot. 

255. suddenly : unexpectedly. The First Folio spelling is ' sodainlie.' 
259. Life and the means of living. Portia has given Antonio life 
in delivering him from the clutches of Shylock. 



scene I THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 139 

And charge us there upon inter'gatories, 
And we will answer all things faithfully. 

Gratiano. Let it be so : the first inter'gatory 
That my Nerissa shall be sworn on is, 

Whether till the next night she had rather stay, 275 

Or go to bed now, being two hours to day : 
Well, while I live I '11 fear no other thing 
So sore as keeping safe Nerissa's ring. \_Exeunf] 

271. " In the Court of Queen's Bench, when a complaint is made 
against a person for a ' contempt,' the practice is that, before sen- 
tence is finally pronounced, he is sent into the Crown Office, and, 
being there ' charged upon interrogatories,' he is made to swear 
that he will ' answer all things faithfully.' " — Lord Campbell. 



INDEX 



This Index includes the most important words and phrases explained in 
the notes. The figures in heavy-faced type refer to the pages ; those in plain 
type, to the lines containing the word or phrase explained. 



a: 39 49. 
abode: 54 21. 
address'd: 64 18. 
advice : 123 6. 
advisedly: 137 239. 
alas the while : 34 31. 
Alcides : 34 35, 77 55. 
aleven: 44 149. 
and: 19 80. 
Andrew: 5 27. 
angel (coin) : 59 56. 
appropriation: 16 38. 
argosies : 3 9. 
attempt: 121 416. 
attended: 130 103. 
balance : 1 1 3 250. 
ban'd: 103 46. 
Barrabas: 115 291. 
bated: 93 32. 
beholding : 27 97. 
beshrew: 56 59. 
between you and I: 

90 313. 
Black-Monday: 51 24. 
bless the mark: 36 20. 
blood : 14 16. 
bonnet: 18 67. 
bottom : 6 42. 
break his day : 30 155. 
break up : 48 10. 
breath : 67 89. 
breed : 26 88, 29 126. 
brief and plain conven- 

iency : 105 81. 



burghers : 3 10. 
by: 16 48, 64 25. 
came by it : 3 3. 
candles of the night: 

136 218. 
carrion Death : 60 63. 
cater-cousins : 42 120. 
Charybdis : 97 15. 
cheer : 90 307. 
cheer'st : 99 56. 
childhood proof : 12 144. 
circumstance: 12 154. 
civil doctor: 136 208. 
civility: 46 181. 
colt : 1 5 37. 
commends : 67 89. 
commodity: 13 178, 

92 27. 
complexion: 70 26. 
conceit : 9 92. 
contain : 135 199. 
continent: 82 130. 
cope: 120 407. 
could not do withal: 

96 72. 
counterfeit: 81 115. 
Cressida: 124 6. 
Daniel: 112 218. 
defy the matter : 99 56. 
disabling : 58 30. 
doit: 29 132. 
doublet : 1 8 66. 
dumb-show: 17 65. 
eaning-time : 26 79. 
141 



eanlings : 26 75. 
Endymion: 131 109. 
enow: 98 20. 
envy: 101 10. 
Erebus: 129 87. 
ergo: 39 52. 
exceeding strange : 7 

67. 
exclaim on : 84 174. 
excrement: 79 87. 
expect: 127 49. 
eye- of honour: 11 137. 
faithless : 49 37. 
fancy: 77 63. 
fawning publican: 23 

37. 
fear for: 97 3. 
fearful guard : 30 167. 
fee an officer: 74 110. 
fill-horse : 40 87. 
flight (arrow) : 11 141. 
fond: 91 9. 
frutify: 42 123. 
gaberdine: 28 104. 
gag'd : 11 130. 
gaping pig: 103 47. 
gear: 10 110. 
Goodwin Sands : 69 4. 
gramercy : 41 ill. 
gratify: 120 401. 
guarded: 43 143. 
gudgeon: 9 102. 
habit: 45 176. 
Heraclitus : 16 43. 



142 



THE HUDSON SHAKESPEARE 



Hercules: 34 32,77 57. 
high-day: 68 97. 
his: 11 141. 
holy crosses : 126 31. 
hose: 18 66. 
humility: 71 60. 
husbandry : 94 25. 
Hyrcanian: 59 41. 
I wis: 66 67. 
imagin'd speed : 95 52. 
impeach the freedom : 

89 273. 
imposition: 19 95, 94 

33. 
incarnal : 37 24. 
Indian beauty: 80 99. 
inexecrable: 107 127. 
infection: 42 115. 
inter'gatories: 139 271. 
intermission : 85 199. 
Jacks : 96 77. 
Jacob's staff : 52 35. 
Janus : 6 50. 
Jason: 125 13, 87 236. 
Jewess' eye : 52 42. 
jump with: 65 31. 
kept : 92 19. 
knapp'd : 69 9. 
level at : 1 5 35. 
Lichas : 34 32. 
light: 55 42, 80 91, 

132 129. 
line of life : 44 148. 
livers white as milk: 

79 86. 
lover : 93 7. 
manage : 94 25. 
marry : 38 37. 
master: 38 46. 
may : 22 7. 
Medea: 125 13. 
Midas: 81 102. 
mind of love : 62 42. 
moe: 10 ]08. 
moiety : 102 26. 
more elder : 1 1 3 246. 



mortifying : 8 82. 

music: 1sj9 88. 

music of the spheres : 
128 60. 

narrow seas : 69 3, 4. 

naughty : 91 9. 

Nazarite: 23 31. 

Nestor : 7 56. 

old: 123 15. 

opinion: 8 91. 

Orpheus : 1 29 79. 

other : 6 54. 

pageants : 4 11. 

part : 60 77. 

patch: 52 45. 

patens: 128 59. 

pawn'd: 100 68. 

peize : 75 22. 

poesy (posy): 133 146. 

possess'd: 103 35. 

postman's horn: 127 
39. 

prefer: 43 134. 

presence : 77 54. 

presently: 119 382. 

prest: 12 160. 

prevented : 7 61. 

proper *. 1 7 64. 

prove it so: 75 20. 

provided of : 49 23. 

Pyramus: 124 7. 

Pythagoras : 107 130. 

quaintly : 48 6. 

quarrelling with occa- 
sion : 99 43. 

raise the waters : 38 44. 

reasoning: 15 19. 

red blood : 32 7. 

red wine and Rhenish : 
70 35. 

iregreets : 67 88. 

remorse : 102 20. 

respective: 133 154. 

rest you fair: 25 55. 

Rialto: 22 18, 27 99. 

royal merchant : 1 02 29. 



sad ostent : 46 182. 
Salerio: 86 214. 
sand-blind: 37 32. 
saving your reverence : 

37 22. 
scarfed : 54 15. 
scrubbed: 134 160. 
Scylla: 97 14. 
seal'd under: 18 74. 
sensible regreets: 67 

88. 
setup my rest: 41 96. 
shame and courtesy : 

136 215. 
Shrewd : 87 238. 
shrine : 58 40. 
Sibylla : 20 97. 
signiors: 3 10. 
Sir Oracle : 9 93. 
slubber : 62 39. 
smug : 71 39. 
something grow to : 

36 15. 
sonties: 38 40. 
soon: 47 5. 
sooth: 3 1. 
Sophy: 33 25. 
sort: 19 95, 132 132. 
sphere-music: 128 60. 
Stephano : 1 26 28. 
still : 4 17. 
stomach : 100 73. 
Sultan Solyman : 33 

26. 
superfluity: 14 7. 
supposed fairness : 80 

94. 
swan-like end: 76 44. 
temple: 35 44. 
term in gross : 83 158. 
that: 101 9. 
throstle: 17 54. 
to: 11 126, 17 59. 
to-night: 50 18. 
tranect : 95 53. 
Troilus: 124 4. 



INDEX 



143 



truth: 112 209. 
try confusions : 37 33. 
tucket: 132 121. 
turquoise : 73 106. 
undervalued: 13 165. 
unfurnish'd : 82 126. 
upon the hip : 24 42. 
usance: 24 41. 
vailing: 5 28. 
vantage : 84 174. 



varnish'd faces : 5 1 32. 
venture : 4 15. 
Venus' pigeons: 53 5. 
via: 36 9. 
waft: 125 11. 
wealth: 137 235. 
weeping philosopher : 

16 43. 
well to live : 38 48. 
what: 101 l. . 



what it likes or loathes : 

104 51. 
willow: 125 10. 
withal : 70 24. 
within his danger : 110 

175. 
woollen bagpipe: 104 

55. 
wry-neck'd pipe : 51 29. 
you were best: 62 33. 



IAN 29 1907 



